American Corporations Continue To Betray Us
by Dave Gibson
September 29, 2008



It would be wonderful if the majority of this nation's CEO's were ardent patriots, whose loyalty to the country which has given them so much opportunity, always outweighed any feelings of greed. Sadly, that is simply not the case and American working families are paying the price for that greed.

Today, if you find a discrepancy on your credit card or cell phone bill and call to complain, you will more than likely speak to someone in India. Corporate America has already moved most of the high-paying manufacturing jobs overseas, now they are out-sourcing even those of the $8/hour customer service variety as well.

Several months ago, Greyhound Bus Line announced that the would close their call center in Tucson, AZ. That move meant the layoff of hundreds of workers. Reservations and all customer service inquiries will now be directed to their only remaining U.S. call center in Dallas, TX, as well as to their growing center in Kingston, Jamaica.

This disturbing trend forces me to ask the question: What kind of jobs will the majority of Americans have in twenty years? Will we all be working at gas stations and flipping burgers? Or will illegal aliens have those jobs?

The American middle-class is being sent into extinction. We share the same problem which faces many wild animals, listed on the endangered species list--habitat destruction. While a certain type of frog may become extinct because their swamp has been filled-in, the middle-class is facing the same doom because our workplace is being taken away.

Unions do share some of the blame for now idle factories and manufacturing plants. For decades, unions such as the Teamsters, the UAW (United Auto Workers), and the Steel Workers Union controlled a great deal of this nation's economy.

During the 1960's, the largely-corrupt Teamsters Union controlled the shipment of goods and had the power to shut down this country. For many years, the threat of strikes, walk-outs, and ugly violence kept wages unfairly high in the labor industry. During the 1970's, most auto workers made more money working on an assembly line, than did their family doctor!

The unions in many cases, priced themselves right out of a job. However, the pendulum has now swung so far in the other direction, that for many Americans there will be no job, or at least one that will afford them a decent living. Many Americans are already working two low-paying jobs, just to make ends meet.

We are returning to a time in this nation's history, when there was no middle-class. There will be once again, only rich and poor.

Though many lost jobs in the 1980's could easily be blamed on the labor unions out-pricing themselves, the genocide now taking place upon America´s working-class can just as easily be blamed upon corporate greed.

In many ways, this country is unrecognizable from what it was when the Greatest Generation was at the helm. My grandfather was a laborer in a shipyard. He worked hard and made a good living for his family. If he was alive today, he would no doubt be both bewildered and disgusted by just how greedy the leadership of American corporations has become.

During World War II, American companies gladly turned their factories over to the war effort, even though it meant lower profits. A plant may have been manufacturing washing machines on one day, the next, they were stamping out parts for American warplanes.

Today, too many American companies are closing their doors to American workers and opening plants and factories, even call centers in Third World Nations. They of course, would much rather pay a Chinese or an Indian worker one dollar a day, than fork over $75 or $100 a day to an American. While that strategy may inflate the bottom line, those companies are choosing to support foreign families over American ones.

In 2006, Ford announced that it would close several plants across the country by 2008. Ford actually plans to lay-off 34,000 workers by 2012.

Shortly after that depressing announcement was made, The Detroit Free Press discovered documents which detailed Ford's plans to invest $9.2 billion in Mexico, which includes a new 280,000 square foot assembly plant. Ford already produces a large portion of their vehicles in Mexico and with their plans to expand existing plants and by using local suppliers, Ford will create 37,420 jobs in Mexico.

Ford is not only replacing all of their laid-off American workers with Mexicans, they are actually adding another 3,420 employees to their workforce...only on the other side of the border!

The average wage in Mexico is $4.85 a day.

These companies never relocate their operations to modern, industrialized nations. You never hear about Nike or Black and Decker opening a plant in Sweden. They only open their doors in the Third World, where workers can live off of about a dollar a day, or less. By moving to a country whose standard of living is incredibly low, they basically eliminate their payroll. It amounts to slave labor. Thus, allowing for huge profits.

The following is a partial list of U.S. companies identified by CNN´s Lou Dobbs as outsourcing jobs to foreign countries:

AFS Technologies

A.G. Edwards

Agere Systems

Agilent Technologies

AIG

Alamo Rent A Car

American Dawn

American Express

American Greetings

American Household

American Management Systems

American Standard

American Uniform Company

Anheuser-Busch

BellSouth

Bentley Systems

Berdon LLP

Berne Apparel

Bernhardt Furniture

Best Buy

Bestt Liebco Corporation

Beverly Enterprises

Birdair, Inc.

BISSELL

Black & Decker

Bristol-Myers Squibb

Capital One

Cardinal Brands

Carrier

Carter's

Caterpillar

Cigna

Circuit City

Cirrus Logic

Cisco Systems

Citigroup

Clear Pine Mouldings

Clorox

CNA

Coastcast Corp.

Coca-Cola

Dell Computer

DeLong Sportswear

Delphi

Delta Air Lines

Delta Apparel

Direct TV

Eastman Kodak

Ethan Allen

Evenflo

Evergreen Wholesale Florist

Evolving Systems

Evy of California

Expedia

Extrasport

ExxonMobil

Ford Motor

Foster Wheeler

Franklin Mint

Franklin Templeton

Freeborders

Frito Lay

Fruit of the Loom

General Electric

General Motors

Generation 2 Worldwide

Genesco

Georgia-Pacific

Gerber Childrenswear

GlobespanVirata

Goldman Sachs

Gold Toe Brands

Goodrich

Goodyear Tire & Rubber

Google

Haggar

Halliburton

Hamilton Beach/Procter-Silex

The Hartford Financial Services Group

Harper-Wyman Company

Hasbro Manufacturing Services

Hershey

IBM

John Deere

Johns Manville

Johnson Controls

Johnson & Johnson

JPMorgan Chase

Kraft Foods

Lear Corporation

Leech Tool & Die Works

Lehman Brothers

Leoni Wiring Systems

Levi Strauss

Leviton Manufacturing Co.

Lexmark International

Moen

Money's Foods Us Inc.

Monona Wire Corp.

Monsanto

Morgan Stanley

Motion Control Industries

Motor Coach Industries International

Motorola

Nabisco

Nike

Nordstrom

Northrop Grumman

Northwest Airlines

Owens Corning

PepsiCo

Pfaltzgraff

Pfizer

Phillips-Van Heusen

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation

Pitney Bowes

Quaker Oats

Radio Flyer

Radio Shack

Rainbow Technologies

Rawlings Sporting Goods

Rayovac

Raytheon Aircraft

Sallie Mae

Samsonite

Sun Microsystems

Target

Tupperware

USAA

Wachovia Bank

Walgreens

Xerox

Zenith

So what should we do? Perhaps, offer tax credits to U.S. companies which keep their operations inside our borders?...To me, that is rewarding someone for doing what they should do anyway. There is really nothing particularly heroic about doing the right thing. It would also be just another form of corporate welfare (once again at the expense of the American worker). Besides, there is no tax-credit that could be offered which would outweigh the money these companies are already saving by out-sourcing jobs to the Tird World.

There have been more than 3 million manufacturing jobs lost in this country since 2000. Much of that has to do with our entrance into NAFTA and CAFTA, as well as many other so-called ´free trade´ agreements which allow goods to come into this country from other nations with little or no tariffs placed upon them.

In order to exit those agreements, our elected representatives would have to vote to do so. In light of the fact that our most of our Congress accepts so much in campaign contributions from these industries which now rely so heavily upon outsourcing, it is not likely that they will vote for anything that will restore American manufacturing jobs.

The state of employment for Americans will worsen long before it improves. Corporate greed and government bailouts are leading our economy down a path of destruction.

Since 9/11, we have been constantly told that now more than ever, we need patriots in every facet of American society. Why should the boardroom should be any exception?
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/75822