Whose magic wand will stop 'outsourcing'?
13 September 2004 - Orange County Register

Letter-writer Sidney Jacks asserts that the first presidential candidate to declare a war on outsourcing will win his vote. Does he think that there is legislation that can be enacted that will magically make every US-based company stop looking for higher value from its employees? Is he under the impression that once the government makes it harder to outsource, his company will simply stop hiring non-US-based people?

I think not. He describes his employer as a subsidiary of an international company. How much legislation outlawing outsourcing does anyone think will have to be passed before his international parent company simply closes up shop in the US entirely and moves its subsidiary’s operations to a more business-friendly environment?

The war should not be declared on outsourcing, which is just a fear-engendering word that means “cost-efficient hiring practices”, but rather on the business environment of overly-restrictive and unnecessary regulation that raises costs and results in companies finding higher value in hiring people elsewhere.