Curt Maassen
4/8/09
C&C Bullshit
Policy Paper
Background:
I was watching the news the other day and they were talking about the economy and its current state. One man brought up the subject of outsourcing; he put a heavy blame on outsourcing and added it is part of the reason for the millions of unemployed people in our country.
Ten percent of Americans are losing their jobs to outsourcing (2004 #1). That might not seem like a lot but the numbers equal out to be over 30 million Americans that lost their job to a person in another country, and there doesn’t seem to be any relief in sight. Experts are predicting that 3.3 million jobs and $136 billion in wages will leave the U.S. to countries like India, China, and Russia by 2015(2004 #2). For example India alone expects to create two million jobs in the next ten years. The individual areas hit hardest by outsourcing are Information Technology (IT) with 28% of jobs and Human Resources with 16%(2007) (Syropushchinsky, 2005).
Companies choose to outsource jobs to save money in order to make a bigger profit. Other reasons include: sharing the risk of owning a business, making the product faster so it gets to the customer faster, and creating worldwide connections (Overby, 2009) (Engardio, 2006). By sharing the risk companies are saving their hide so to speak, the less they invest the less they lose if the company goes under. When the product is made faster and when it gets to the customer faster, the customer is pleased with the company even before he or she uses the product. Outsourcing to create worldwide connections is just another way for the executives of the companies to put more money in their pocket.
These greedy and powerful executives of businesses are hurting our citizens’ lives and our economy and they need to do the opposite. They need to create jobs and try to help improve the economy.
Policy:
My policy isn’t very complicated. I simply say we put a tax on those goods that were built or produced in the United States that aren’t anymore so to make it more cost effective for U.S. industries to produce their goods at home instead of elsewhere. I say we put a hefty tax on those goods so to make them more expensive to make overseas than in the U.S. We use whatever number that comes out to be plus 1.5%. My policy would go into effect immediately and the tax money from the transformation period would be used as an incentive for companies to move their operations back home. Those companies that move back within a year would split 65% of the tax money, those that move back within two years would split 25% of the tax money collected and for those companies that don’t move back within two years would face punishment as the Secretaries of the Treasury and Labor decide. The final 10% would be used to help cover the costs of the making and enforcement of this policy and the remainder of the money would go to important organizations or causes the Secretaries of Treasury and Labor also decide.
Conclusion:
Outsourcing is part of the problem with the American economy and I feel its part can be stopped with my policy. Many American families are being affected by outsourcing and they don’t need to be. This policy would create jobs for Americans and help to solve the crisis our country is going through now.
References:
1.(2004). Outsourcing American Jobs. Retrieved April 8, 2009, from Cyber Furturistics Web site: http://www.cyfuture.com/outsourcing-american-jobs.htm
2. (2004). Outsourcing Statistics . Retrieved April 8, 2009, from Cyber Futuristic Web site: http://www.cyfuture.com/outsourcing-statistics.htm
(2007). Outsourcing. Retrieved April 8, 2009, from Offshore IT Outsourcing: Your Premiere Destination for IT Outsourcing Web site: http://offshoreitoutsourcing.com/Pages/outsourcing_statistics.asp
Engardio , Pete (Nov 8, 2006). Outsourcing: Job Killer or Innovation Boost?. Business Week, Retrieved April 8, 2009, from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2006/gb20061108_738883.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business
InformationWeek. (2002). Analyzing the Outsourcers [Brochure]. Manhasset, NY: Robin Gareiss.
Overby, Stephanie (2009). ABC: An Introduction to Outsourcing. Retrieved April 8, 2009, from CIO Web site: http://www.cio.com/article/40380/ABC_An_Introduction_to_Outsourcing#2
Syropushchinsky, Denis (2005). Making a Decision to Outsource: Driving Factors. Quilx Systems, Retrieved April 8, 2009, from http://www.qulix.com/Article_-_Making_Decision_Outsource.html
