This is a fascinatingly in-depth article about which Jim Webb must be aware, and/or he has studied similar pieces and has taken it upon himself to stay accurately and acutely informed about same.  Sometimes, one has to wonder how Webb finds the time to accomplish all these feats...

You and your current career situation are living proof of precisely what Jim Webb was asserting all during his campaign about this absurd U. S. business/economic/political paradox that must be resolved to the benefit of own workers, soon.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention in such realistic, startling detail!

Steve

Paul Craig Roberts is a highly respected economist and he seemingly is almost foaming at the mouth over his frustration and US economic and trade policy being so stupid.

He is a conservative Republican yet obviously anyone with an analytical mind can see the insanity of offshore outsourcing our technology, jobs, expertise.

Great post.

Thanks for posting this.  Great find.

Right now the only secure jobs are those helping the military. I work for a contractor who helps them blow people up AND helps American soldiers with their medical needs. I work on the medical side so I don't feel too bad, but you can see how a company can work both ends.

Sorry to inform you that the Pentagon's civilian leadership, under pressure from the business lobbies, no doubt, is attempting to open a wide range of jobs to imported (non-immigrant visa) "guest workers. This will affect many job categories including software engineering. Once you examine the business practices of contract companies such as Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), you'll see how they want to use their vast foreign workforce to perform work for the U.S. government. Opening up military contract work to NIV workers will increase the profitability of companies tremendously.

There are certain sectors of the economy that should be propped up beyond their ability to compete globally.  Chief among these is the manufacturing sector, but only so that important industry can be quickly mobilized in times of national danger. Unfortunately, not every industry merits protectionism, and, where American workers are unable to evolve and compete, mediocrity should not be rewarded. 

I am asking for fair trade.  I want China and India to stop manipulating their currencies.  I want balanced trade - they need to "pay to play" in this market - in other words buy our goods if we are to buy theirs.  I want reciprocal trade - if they tarriff us apply the same tarriff back.  And finally, I want an end to tax incentives to offshore.  Companies shouldn't be rewarded for offshoring.

If you define that as protectionism, then yes I want protectionism.  I define what I am asking for as fair trade.

Before the Federal Reserve (its not federal, but a private bank) printed our money the US brought in funds through tarrifs administered by the Customs Department. That's why there is a historical rivalry between Treasury and Customs. What this did was make countries pay for access to our markets. It also helped US businesses by making their goods more attractive to US citizens. What this did was help the health of American businesses. I see no reason why we shouldn't slap some tarrifs on Chinese goods and use the funds to help American businesses. That might help keep some of the country's life blood circulating within the country instead of bleeding out into China and other countries which offer low wages and few labor rights, and no American jobs.

You say: "[W]here American workers are unable to evolve and compete, mediocrity should not be rewarded".

I'm hard-pressed to imagine that you bothered to read PCR's article or intend to. Frankly, the entire thrust of the "free trade" agenda is "labor arbitrage" -- the replacement of middle class American workers with Third World workers whenever possible. The propaganda blitz conducted by free traders has claimed that this was all about "excellence". The reality is/was that the objective is to knock down the wages/incomes of most Americans while increasing the dividends of the investor classes and the upper management of corporations. Read a little and learn alot, Houdon.

As for the specific case of American software engineers and IT professionals, my blog site, "The Modern Patriot" (http://modernpatriot...) has *numerous* links and postings which should dispell the foolish assertion that American IT workers are losing their jobs because of "mediocrity" -- some sort of technical knowlede inadequacy or inferior work ethic.

I was on another blog recently where reports were coming in from all over the country about how the ordinary people in their communities who used to work in manufacturing were doing things like working in hotels and flipping burgers. Reports are also coming in that rich people are moving into the countryside and buying everything in site. Then they form organizations which control the city government and they grant themselves government funded projects.

This is pretty grim. These same rich people are screwing people in developing countries as well by forcing them to open their markets to American food products which is causing all the local farmers to go out of business. This also ends up forcing them to buy US grain and other food products. That's because the American farmers are subsidized which means they can charge lower prices while these developing countries are at the same time prohibited from subsidizing their own farmers by organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank in exchange for loans. Once the farmers are out of business the coporations form "free zones" in these countries where they employ the citizens for slave wages behind guarded barbed wire fences. The "free zones" are in fact more like slave labor camps.

This type of slave style labor camp will be coming to a community near you soon unless we do something about these corporate schemes.

Excellent report & article: "Foreign aqusition of U.S. assets" on this massive scale is not "investment"  it is colonization.

. . . and further, Jim Webb's view is increasingly a real-world position and the ascending Democratic position in contrast with positions of the DLC just recently pitched. I notice today that Al Gore, who I like in many ways, has tapped billionaire Richard Branson, to "fight global warming" by giving away some of his money in a contest. This in keeping with Bill Clinton's recent approach in fighting AIDS by finding a billionaire friend to give a bunch of his money (same guy, I think). This is largely the Andrew Carnegie approach (who's local libraries I enjoyed much as a child) - if AIDS and global warming depend of the random benevolence of friends and strangers - the same billionaires who Webb spoke of in his reponse to the President who make in one day what the average worker makes in 21 years - we are thoroughly screwed. New positions need new people: Mark Warner.