Thursday, November 02, 2006

The New era of class war

A series of US presidents ignored the implications of corporations relocating jobs and factories to developing nations with low labor costs. Such off-shoring has enriched a small and select group while gradually destroying US industries, occupations and communities.

“No country benefits from trading its professional jobs, such as engineering, for domestic service jobs,” claims journalist Paul Craig Roberts. He points out that scientific and technological research, design and innovation flourish inside manufacturing facilities, but US corporations steadily relocate factories and manufacturing jobs overseas.

Economists speculate that education and retraining could lead to higher-paying alternative jobs in the developed nations, but increasing population and outsourcing outpace any new jobs available. Asia takes on more design and engineering work, and US workers sell the finished products to a public that accumulates dangerous debt. “American employees have been abandoned by American corporations and by their representatives in Congress,” the author argues. The US public has less confidence in an economy based on so little manufacturing substance. The result of such trends includes widening polarization between rich and poor, contributing to social strife and less opportunity for all in the US.

Thanks to YaleGlobal. The full article is available here.