[softball]

Originally Posted by Hell Puppy

I agree with you on production of goods, imports versus exports, etc. I just disagree on how to get there.

It's all about the jobs and who does the labor, and the costs involved.

Labor costs in the U.S. for simple menial manufacturing tasks are driven artificially high. You can thank unions for a lot of that, especially in automotive, textiles, etc. But we just put a very pro-labor, pro-union, liberal Democrat in office. Unions ensure you'll overpay for your labor.

Then there's taxes. The uninformed who do not run a business think an employee making $30K a year costs $30K a year. Wrong. Taxes, FICA, etc it all piles on.

Skilled jobs are leaving for same reasons. Forget the offshoring non-sense of adult. Look at real I.T. jobs. In most areas of the U.S. an IT Professional is going to go for $60K-120K depending on skill set, experience, etc. That's before taxes and bennies. To hire the best and brightest right now you need to add another 40% on top of that to cover the bennies and taxes.

Meanwhile, many Fortune 100 companies are sending tens of thousands of IT jobs to india. Typical costs for a mid-range IT Professional offshore? $30 an hour all inclusive. You dont have to provide desk space, computer, anything, you pay the outsourcing company $30 a year, tell 'em skill set you need. And you've got it. They're well educated and do good work as long as you can spec things well....not so good in the area of "thinking outside the box".

You gotta make the companies want to bring those jobs back here. Obama's idea? Tax companies who offshore. All that does is drive the entire company offshore.

Want a growth business for 2010? Staffing companies. If Obama executes his plan, you're not going to want employees, you're going to want to outsource as much as you can and make all of that overhead someone else's problem.

So really, your solution is just a fairer distribution of the wealth. Sounds like a plan. Sounds kinda familiar.