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09-30-2008, 07:55 AM #1
American Corporations Continue To Betray Us
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?
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