I understand what you are saying. But we live in a FREE market. We are the greatest economy in the world. Why? Because in part we are flexible. We figure out how to do things better and faster. We are highly creative and the most customer focused nation in the world. Just because jobs are being outsourced to other nations should not be a reason to feel we are somehow threatened. We are a global economy. People who don't have the flexibility to move onto other endeavors from what they've ALWAYS done, yes, will likely suffer. They'll have to take lower paying jobs. And curse the government. But the ones who'll ultimately succeed are those who figure out what skills/abilities they can exploit in themselves. Maybe in a differenet job. But, life changes.
Blacksheep, I think you're missing my point. I'm all for a free market system, and survival of the fittest. However, what I'm talking about is a level field. Let me give you an example. I own a small engineering & manufacturing company. Nothing special, it's a 10 man company. Customers like Gerber Baby Products, HON furniture and Caterpiller come to me when they have a new product they need designed and manufactured. My competition is China. As I said before, China has a huge advantage with cheaper labor, no OSHA or EPA standards to meet, no 401k or ESOP, etc. I can deal with these things. However, another huge advantage they have is a Chinese government that buys equipment for them. Again, I can deal with that. But what I can't handle is when my government gives money to companies to US companies to set up shop overseas. For example, a company named Nypro (a huge engineering and manufacturing company) just received a one million grant to build a tooling company in Russia. Companies like GE and Motorola receive assistance from federal agencies to set up manufacturing companies in China. So while I'm here with "peanuts" for tax breaks to buy new equipment or hire more people, my own government helps US companies ship jobs overseas. Why do companies do this? Because Wal-Mart literally sqweezes them for every penny. When I worked as a project engineer for Plano Molding (the tackle box people) our biggest customer was Wal-Mart. What Wal-Mart now does is take the best selling items they use to buy from Plano, Rubbermaid, Newell, etc., goes to China and has them make it for them. Does this fit in the realm for "free enterprise"? Sure does. But at some point there is also a sense of social resposibilty.