Presidential Challenge

Volume 2, Issue 35- September 2-8, 2011

International Tribune

Last week, one of my favorite columnists at the New York Times apologized to the public that the media must have downplayed the significance of unemployment in the US.  At the end of his article, he even challenged President Obama to do something about it.  What a coincidence.  In his next major speech after Labor Day, President Obama will actually focus on the same exact subject:  something must be done with unemployment. 

In his bus tour of the Midwest this entire week, the buzz in the heartland is “jobs”!  The unemployment rate is at 9.1%- that is nearly 14 million registered unemployed Americans.   Not to mention that there are millions of former full-time workers whose job were cut down to half-time employment just to keep them afloat.   This statistics is still struggling to find ways to get back into full time employment.  History has shown that there has not been any president re-elected for a second term with this high unemployment rate.  If Obama does not focus on this issue now, he will also find himself unemployed after next year’s presidential election.  

Where did all the jobs go? The truth is, this topic can be a never-ending debate.  However, to narrow it down a bit to present my humble argument, there is one major culprit for this loss, and that is out-sourcing.  Since technology has advanced us to ways where we can now connect people from one side of the world to another, companies found ways to train and hire a much cheaper labor force overseas.  Most corporate executives now claim that it is more cost-effective to operate a call center in New Delhi or Manila than Pittsburgh or Omaha.  In fact, this is nothing new and most Americans know about this.  What is bothersome is that most policy makers in Capitol Hill have close ties with the big corporations but are still not proactive on finding remedies to this loss.  And ironically, the easiest and immediate target to blame is President Obama.   It becomes just another excuse to attack the president – twisting the situation as his lack of action to the issue.  The magnitude of these job losses hurts so many Americans.  It must be placed in the proper perspective.

In 2004 and 2009, IBM outsourced its high-tech jobs to India where there is a big pool of well-educated and less-expensive labor force.  India’s G.D.P. (Gross Domestic Products) grew at a very admirable rate of 7.1% which, to a very large degree, resulted from this outsourcing of America's economic activities.  In 2006, Eastman Kodak, Co. contracted a Singapore-based electronic company, Flextronics to manufacture and distribute a good portion of its digital cameras.  This agreement resulted in job creations not only in Singapore but also to factories in China and Mexico.  Not only one country benefited from this outsourcing, but three- to the expense of American workers.  Do you know that with outsourcing, companies are taxed less because of their overseas operational expenses?  Not only are the jobs given elsewhere, but they are also not paying their taxes at home.  Yes, this is a double-edged sword.  

Next year’s US Presidential Election will be a very important election in which the very future of this nation will depend.  From health care to defense, from national debt to creating jobs, the winner must take America to a better and higher road.   All we see now from the Republican runners are non-stop tirade and cheap shots on the current president.  They do not have any solid plans and hardly an economic platform to present to the American public.  Voters should challenge the candidates to provide them a real blue-print on how to fix America’s crises and not just dwell on the problem.  America’s infrastructures in every aspect need reconstructing, revamping and strengthening.  The American people have sacrificed too much and have borne the burden too far.

And now, here is my challenge.  I know that being the President of America is a tough job.  But we all hired him for this very important position.  Obama was elected not just for his intelligence and charisma, but because he was a real darn nice guy.  President Obama, no more Mr. Nice guy.  It is about time to kick some @*# and give those Republicans a real run for their money.