Strawman? Cmon Gip! This is essentially a dispute about Free Markets vs. Mixed Markets vs. Controlled Markets. When there is 0% government regulation of trade, a Free Market exists. At the other end is 100% government regulation on trade (absolute protectionism allowing zero foreign trade). Every % between is a Mixed Market. Being a Capitalist, I support Free Trade and Free Markets - 0% government intervention into the economy.
I would like to point out that "taken to it's extreme", having Americans buy ONLY American made goods would equally result in plunging our nation into third world status. Outsourcing is such a minor contributor to job loss that fears of it wrecking the economy are tantamount to conspiracy theory level hysteria. For example:
Hong Kong has one of the best economies in the world and they rely on imports for almost everything, even their "exports" are goods that are imported then resold as exports. So claims about how outsourcing can destroy a country are, at least in that one example, demonstrably false.
Hong Kong relies on mainland China for much of it's production, because of cheap labor, then imports the goods and resells them as exports. America could do the same with Mexico and both our countries would be better off as a result. Trade is mutually beneficial, the more we have and the free-er it is, the better of everyone is.
That's just silly... I could just as easily state that if every American were forced to purchase higher cost American made goods that they would have no money left over to eat out and thereby negatively impact my secondary and tertiary employment. (BTW, I'm a banquet server, I mainly do weddings and other large events)
I was pointing out that the "expert" you cited was calling for more government. He specifically blamed "deregulation", free markets, and free trade - none of which actually exist - for all our nations ills. More government is his solution; more regulation and a complete abandonment of free markets and free trade, both of which he considers "myths".
Whether or not they currently exist doesn't change the fact that Free Markets, Free Trade and Capitalism WORK.
I'm fighting against our current system in hopes of replacing it with Capitalism, Free Trade, and Free Markets. The fact that I'm in an extreme minority does not change my resolve or diminish my spirit.
It was at the link in that same paragraph but here's another one:
According to research data, more than 400,000 U.S. jobs had moved abroad and the total is estimated to hit 3.3 million by 2015. That’s just above 200,000 jobs lost every year to global outsourcing, a trivial problem in the context of the normal churn of the U.S. economy, where about 7 million jobs were gained and lost in each of the previous four quarters.
Now lets consider this with a rational perspective based on the numbers available. There are just over 200,000 jobs lost every year to outsourcing, divide that number by 4 (using quarters), we lose roughly 50,000 jobs
per quarter to outsourcing. And, in the "normal churn" of the US economy, we see about 7 million jobs come and go
per quarter.
Using the quarterly statistics, outsourcing is responsible for a whopping 0.714% of jobs lost in a given quarter. So outsourcing is responsible for less than 1% of job losses yet, to hear the hysteria surrounding the subject, you'd think it was responsible for the other 99.286% of job losses.
And one last tidbit...
A
forthcoming paper in the American Economic Review looked at 57 American industries from 2000 to 2007. The study found that even though some people lost jobs due to outsourcing, the greater efficiencies the industries realized allowed them to hire even more people in the United States than were laid off.
