"Cheap foreign labor".. Lou Dobbs has created the "catch phrase"

[SoCalDem]

for 2004.. Now will any Dem pick it up and hammer it home???

Cheap foreign labor, kind of says it all.. There are few people in the US who are immune .. Most jobs can be (and are) outsourced.. If YOUR job cannot be, then the support jobs where you work can be, and that affects you as well..

The US money that flows to foreign countries does us no good here..The people working for pennies an hour cannot afford to buy American products.. The jobs that these people do, used to be done by Americans who DID buy stuff here..

People who lost their good paying jobs, do not have the money anymore to support the businesses here, so the employees who used to man the places they went, are now in less demand.. Less demand, means layoffs in other industries..

It's a spiral, and it's headed downward.. The vortex it creates will suck lots of people whose jobs were considered "safe"..

Unless we want all the real assets of the US to be concentrated in the bank accounts of a few wealthy people at the top, this issue has to be the biggest one we have..

Iraq is an issue, to be sure, but... cheap foreign labor affects MOST US workers.. People can still remember the "signing bonuses" of a few years ago..and they can also remember how easy it was to change jobs a few years ago..

I would venture a guess that EVERYONE who makes 100,000.00 or less KNOWS someone who has been affected by this.. Cheap foreign labor allows companies to raise costs of insurance borne by the worker.. It allows bosses to get wage concessions from employees, it allows bosses to force people to "work off the clock"..

When the employers can extort givebacks of time and/or wages from their employees, things are only going to get worse.. How comfortable are people these days?? Do they dare ask for a raise when their boss has threatened to "take the company offshore" if they do not reduce costs??

Does the money saved by companies ever find its way into the marketplace?? Do prices fall for their products?? Do the remaining employees get more money for their extra efforts?

Republicans SPONSOR this adversarial position between management and labor.. That's why they hate unions and lawyers..

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. I know the person who got that meme going

Lou has now adopted it, trust me I am giggling here, he used the phrase with Forbes Editor... I was just gigling.

[StClone]

2. Lou, an Honorary Evil DUer?

Let's watch first how long he keeps Bush-checking.

[ignatius]

3. You know one thing I think Perot got right was the problems that

Nafta would create, remember that giant "sucking sound" he warned us about as American jobs headed south of the border?

Now it is being taken to the next level, Nafta has helped improve the living standards in Mexico, but this amnesty will lower the living standards here.

Cheap foreign labor..more like indentured servitude.

[SoCalDem]

9. 21st Century Slavery

omeone yesterday mentioned this and they were right..

This new slavery is even "better" that the only slavery..

Modern slavery benefits the slavemaster in ways that the old style could not..

New slavers do not have to house, feed or even "buy" his slaves..
New slaves are rented for pennies on the dollar
New slaves do not get medical care
New slaves can be easily replaced with even newer ones
New slaves keep their mouths shut about abuses
New slaves do not run away


The modern slavemaster is not even ostracized ..He is touted as being a "good businessman" ..

The general public is more accepting of the new slavery, since they benefit from it every time they stay at a hotel, eat at a restaurant, buy clothes,look at their beautiful lawns,revel in their sparkling clean car,marvel at their super-cheap new roof,buy 59 cent lettuce, or any other of a thousand ways..

We are told that if we do not have these cheap laborers, prices would rise and goodness knows we would never stand for that..

There used to be an "implied contract" with the people who did our "dirty work".. They could at least get decent wages and their kids would be a step ahead on the ladder to success, but in the last 20-30 years, we have all but hidden that ladder.. We do not want them to succeed.. We want them to stay just where they are, and if the get uppity, we can just replace them..

We want their hands busy, and their mouths shut..

[Gin]

11. Sucking sound....Phase 2

Our standard of living lowers to meet the other 3rd world countries. We all join each other on an even playing field at that point.

Unless of course, you happen to be the employer making all the profits.

[revcarol]

4. Ya missed the newest one:

"selfish recovery."
I'm beginning to like the guy. Had to turn him off before.

[brainshrub]

5. I like "Cheap-Labor Republicans" better.

Frankly, "Cheap Labor" sums up the whole ideology of the right-wing. Think about it.

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. As long as nobody asks "why is it so cheap?"

and any white people who had not been thinking of people of other ethnicities as "enemy" slip into it so gradually they don't even realize it, Lou is doing a terrific job.

He quit, you know, not too long after 9-11, but there were talks, and Lou came back, to sound the clarion call against "radical Islamism" and "illegal aliens."

Quite the playa, is Lou.

[rumguy]

7. I'm starting to like Lou again...

[economic justice]

13. I like Lou --- a lot.

Since he began his anti-outsourcing campaign 2 years or so ago and his "corporate crooks scorecard" and his calls for corporate responsibility....it's hard NOT to like him.

[rumguy]

16. Well there was that little incident with Daryl Worley playing

"Have You Forgotten?" live in Lou's studio...

that was not Lou's finest moment.

Maybe Lou feels pissed off, like the rest of us, that he was lied to about Saddam and his WMDs.

[childslibrarian]

8. I feel very strongly that

If a candidate would listen to Lou Dobbs and echo his message, that they could create the most compelling case for getting rid of Bush there is....I live with an engineer. Many of this county's technology jobs have gone overseas (including IBM yesterday). These are middle class jobs with benefits.
The Democratic candidate's mandate should be...
The Bush administration's assault upon the MIDDLE CLASS......

[rumguy]

10. well said: The Bush Admin's assault on the middle class

I like that

[ignatius]

12. Vote Bush Cheney..get a Mcjob for every Mcperson!!

[childslibrarian]

14. Seriously,

The IEEE (98% who voted for Shrub) are seriously worried about the loss of engineering jobs overseas. They are now thinking that engineers will have to take drastic pay cuts in order to work in this country.

On the other note, my library has at least 6 technology employed Moms who are laid off who are volunteering in my library.

[SoCalDem]

15. That kind of devalues that expensive college degree

Of course there are lots of people now with degrees, who are working outside their fields for way less than they should be paid..

I really feel that our govt is positioning itself for after the boomers are out of the workplace..

There are a lot of jobs that are still being done by boomers, and once we all croak, the pinheads in charge probably feel that there will be many willing younger people who will jump at the chance to do these jobs...and they will be willing to work for less too..

If the young folks today cannot afford college, it will pretty much guarantee that they will not be able to command high salaries, so it's a win-win for the bosses..

[childslibrarian]

17. Makes sense to me

And I think it is a good campaign theme...