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To: Amy J who wrote (17243)	2/13/2004 5:32:14 PM
From: Tradelite	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 306849

<<What do you think of this situation?>> Well, you asked, so here goes.... I would be very skeptical of the current crop of Presidential candidates who are all jumping on the anti-offshoring bandwagon to stir up votes. The government has a poor record of being able to do anything to stem unemployment in general, and has an expensive record of trying to set up "programs" to cure what seems to be largely a naturally occurring and unavoidable phenomenon. I think the political candidates are pandering to emotions and ought to start talking specifics about what they truly think they're going to do about offshoring, job losses, weak job creation, etc. Then their supporters need to ask themselves whether the proposed solutions are really going to make them "better off five years from now". I hate it that the U.S. manufacturing sector has gone down the tubes, but don't see how we'll ever get that horse back in the barn and can certainly see why it left the barn in the first place--the influence of labor unions on wage pressures probably can be blamed for some of the history in this regard, but much more has happened globally to worsen the picture for American factories, than just unions. There was a time in our history when unions exerted a positive force for improvements in wages and working conditions. However, in my opinion, there's a big difference between unionizing the overworked, underpaid workers at an un-airconditioned GM assembly plant in the hot Midwest during the 1940s vs. some of the long-running battles unions have been fighting against their employers in more recent times. I hate it that Indians are actually being imported to replace U.S. workers (which is different from offshoring a function which can't be performed economically here by existing workers). In a capitalistic society and global economy, however, I don't think we can hide too well or too productively from the rest of the world behind protectionist policies, if the rest of the world is willing to do our work at slave wages and American consumers are happy with their low-priced omelet pans and computers made in China. My opinions, only, of course. Oh, and one final thought.....perhaps we all need to develop new careers in agriculture, because those prices at the grocery store are getting OUTRAGEOUS!