In a presidential election year when the export of tech jobs and towering trade imbalance with China are being repackaged by Democrats as wedge workforce issues against the GOP, it was breathtakingly incredible to watch the Bush White House trot out its top economic official last week to declare all is well with outsourcing and Beijing business dealings.
N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisors, delivered the good news. “Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade … and that’s a good thing,” said Mankiw, instantly elevating political tone-deafness to new heights. Good undoubtedly for wireless and high-tech sectors desperate to cut costs by having products made and services performed in countries where labor costs are dirt cheap, owing in part to the virtual absence of serious workplace safety, labor and environmental protection laws. Not so good for the nearly 3 million workers who have lost jobs since President Bush took office.
It wasn’t as if Republicans needed to throw a big fat piece of red meat to Democrats, already foaming at the mouth about elusive weapons of mass destruction they hope will prove politically lethal against Bush in his re-election bid.
The hoots and howls came fast and furious following Mankiw’s remarks and the release of the White House’s annual economic report. House Democrats beat up on Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who often speaks of information technology’s benefits to business and who also remains hopeful lost jobs will be replaced by new ones.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) sounded incredulous. She called for the Senate to back an amendment repudiating the Bush administration’s flippant pronouncement on outsourcing. “I hope that we actually solve job losses here at home, rather than simply applauding them,” said Clinton.
Etc., etc.
Keep in mind Bush inherited an out-of-steam economy, a house-of-cards New Economy and a corporate/Wall Street corruption machine from President Clinton. Some argue the disappearance of jobs on Bush’s watch reflects a fundamental structural realignment that emphasizes services and intellectual capital over manufacturing. It is a cruel irony that the tech boom of the ’90s at once created new jobs and contributed to layoffs as business managers exploited technology for productivity gains that made jobs dispensable. That’s why some scholars and economists see outsourcing as simply an extension of free trade.
But none of that matters. In election season, as in war, truth is the first casualty. Don’t expect honest debates on the issues, high-profile telecom and tech matters included.
From here on in, what you will hear will be the din of demagoguery.
