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Obama Says Offshoring Fears Are Unwarranted
alphadogg writes "The perception that Indian call centers and back office operations cost US jobs is an old stereotype that ignores today's reality that two-way trade between the US and India is helping create jobs and raise the standard of living in both countries, US President Barack Obama told a gathering of business executives in Mumbai on Saturday. President Obama's remarks come after some moves in the US that had Indian outsourcers worried that the US may get protectionist in the wake of job losses in the country. The state of Ohio, for example, banned earlier this year the expenditure of public funds for offshore purposes. US exports to India have quadrupled in recent years, and currently support tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the US, he said in a speech that was also streamed live. In addition, there are jobs supported by exports to India of agriculture products, travel and education services. President Obama, who is in India on a three-day visit, said that more than 20 deals worth about $10 billion were announced on the first day of his visit."
Why do companies think they deserve to sell the same product to Americans for 10 times the price it sells for in the third world? Once you start talking about products rather than jobs, suddenly all the bullshit rhetoric about "free trade" disappears. It's obvious that the purpose of "free trade" is to screw over the average American for the benefit of the few rich - we're forced to compete with third-world wages, but don't have the option of paying third-world prices.
Besides, the whole concept of "deserving" a certain standard of living is bogus. A medieval peasant had a shitty standard of living. How do we "deserve" a standard of living so much higher, just for being born a few centuries later? We don't "deserve" it, but we take it anyway, because we can. The rich are already taking this line of thinking to its logical conclusion... the working class would do well to do the same.
That was not clear. Here's a description. It's pretty despicable how corporations bend-over backwards to disqualify Americans, just so they hire cheaper imported workers:
"Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers. Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies are running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week."
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall