Why do we keep blaming other countries for "stealing" our jobs... when it was greedy American billionaires who sold them

[applegrove]

— BeSeriousUSA 🐝 (@beserioususa.bsky.social) 2025-05-11T17:53:02.984Z

The Quiet Uprising:

Why do we keep blaming other countries for “stealing” our jobs…
when it was greedy American billionaires who sold them overseas for a quick buck?

They didn’t get stolen — they got outsourced.
Not by China. Not by Mexico.
By CEOs who chose profit over people.

[Irish_Dem]

1. All paths lead back to American greed.

[whathehell]

2. Correction, if I may..

All paths lead back to American billionnaire greed.

[DENVERPOPS]

36. Wasn't it Ross Perot

who predicted a "Giant Sucking Sound" so many years ago..........Perfectly logical given what we were watching.....
And nobody listened......

[Silent Type]

3. Obama and Clinton tried to negotiate better trade agreements, they were bashed by certain Dems, giving us trump 1.

[IronLionZion]

25. Yeah like Obama's proposed Trans Pacific Partnership

there was blatant disinformation shared frequently right here on DU.

TPP was meant to counter China's influence by organizing with the smaller countries in Asia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership

[angryxyouth]

27. You are absolutely right

I remember the disinformation.

[Silent Type]

30. Exactly. And one of our Senators flat ass lied that the agreement was going to be hidden from public for 5 years,

when laws required the final document to be released and approved by Congress.

Doubt I’ll ever get over that, not to mention mention what 8 years of trump will do to country.

Hope we don’t similarly screw ourselves in midterms.

[LoisB]

4. I've been saying this for years.

[TnDem]

5. re: greed

The problem is that there has to be legislation in place such as NAFTA and GATT that allows greed to be fertilized into a massive beanstalk in the first place.

Both parties are to fault allowing this, which is sad on our part.

[DENVERPOPS]

37. Yes

While the nation slept........

[Squaredeal]

6. Mitt Romney did this too.

Bought Staples, then got China to make cheap products for them, causing their American manufacturers to shut down.

[Srkdqltr]

7. yes. It has been this way... always..

[dalton99a]

8. "If it can be made in China, it will be made in China. If it can be coded in India, it will be coded in India."

"If an Indian can answer the phone in English, we'll move technical support/customer service to India."

[Norrrm]

9. Has the Trump family brought their product manufacturing back to America?

[usonian]

10. Every accusation is a confession.

Last edited Sun May 11, 2025, 10:05 PM - Edit history (1)

It’s always someone else’s fault.

[Shipwack]

11. "We Can't Make It Here Anymore" - James McGurty

?si=O-Zf-9IJCjKeKoII

[raccoon]

28. Great song! Thanks for posting.

[ToxMarz]

12. By the Ceo's in league with the Govt

mostly republicans on this front. The legislature and executive branch need to make the rules of the game conducive to this happening for the businesses to take advantage of it.

[DENVERPOPS]

38. The simplest

definition of Fascism is the merger of Government and Corporations......

It is becoming more obvious every day that Corporations and Putin are the ones truly running the Republican Party and Trump

[maspaha]

13. A business model popularized by GE CEO Jack Welch

…can’t stand the ba$+@ rd…
…just sayin’

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. Who famously said he wished he could float his factories around on a barge looking for the cheapest labor.

All while the cashed billions in government contracts and subsidies.

[Warpy]

14. Most Democrats know the jobs were sent away by a bunch of fat cats who wanted to get fatter

so instead of upgrading equipment and facilities here, they just built shiny new ones offshore. Instead of continuing to pay the most productive workforce on the planet, they paid a lot less for a less productive workforce plush shipping costs on top ot it, mostly because they hated unions, even if their businesses had never had to deal with a union.

Republicans are the ones pushing the "they stole our jobs" narrative because whipping up hate of the "other" suits their purposes, they talk about punishing other countries with tariffs when it's the US population who will have to shoulder the cost of them.

It's a jorse shit narrative, but we knew that. The problem is that so many hateful Republicans are buying it.

[markodochartaigh]

17. Also to escape the environmental

and labor regulations in the US that are meant to keep people and our environment safe.

[Evolve Dammit]

15. Damn straight! They made millions selling out US companies

[SheltieLover]

16. It was repukes!

[CaptainTruth]

19. American consumers have enjoyed much lower prices on nearly everything they buy for decades...

...due to outsourcing.

It's odd that no one ever seems to talk about that.

Insatiable consumer desire for "cheap stuff" will always drive the quest for less expensive manufacturing & create opportunities for businesses (& business owners) who want to capitalize on that desire.

[BattleRow]

20. Focusing on the price of everything,while denying the value of that which is priceless.

[maspaha]

21. But government is the only entity big and powerful enough to curb the overreach of capitalism

…and capitalism has unfairly redrawn the playing field

[BattleRow]

22. And keeps moving the goal post.

[DENVERPOPS]

39. In my younger years

Corporations used to be in a race to the top, trying to make the best......now they have been in a race to the bottom..(as in Bottom Line Profitability)

[LiberalArkie]

23. Made in Japan.. Oops Japans wages went up

Made in Korea. Oops Koreas wages went up
Made in Taiwan. Oops Taiwans wages went up
Made in China. Oops Chinas wages went up
Made in India, Bangladesh, Viet Nam.

[riverbendviewgal]

24. Just like the greed in

Confessions of an Economic Hitman. By John perkins

[Joinfortmill]

26. They LIE!

[WSHazel]

29. Why does this board keep repeating Trump talking points?

Free trade:

1) Creates more American jobs than it loses,
2) Keeps domestic prices low,
3) Makes the world a much more peaceful place. This is the most important.

Free trade DOESN'T:

1) Result in a net loss of American jobs.

Tightly restricted trade is a critical tool for any dictator.

By claiming free trade is bad, we are validating Trump's talking point.

[Silent Type]

31. +1. Totally agree 3 is the most important. No way I support screwing poor people worldwide through America First

on steroids. This is one big world and we are a small part of it.

[Ruby the Liberal]

32. This is why Libertarianism doesn't work in practice

No one has ever been able to point to a sustained economy under that governing model - at any point in world history - because it isn't functional. Its all about greed and 'whoever dies with the most toys wins'.

And thats why Vance scares me more than Trump. Trump is a man child stomping his feet and demanding fealty as he spends $10s of millions of taxpayer money a month playing golf while blathering about dolls and pencils.

Vance is in the pocket of Peter Thiel and the like who won't be happy until they hoover up the Treasury into their own crypto accounts.

Trump is erratic. That crew is dangerous.

[ck4829]

33. Great question

and very good point.

[Johonny]

34. Unemployment is low, and job creation rate good

So the whole talking point is stupid.

The problem isn't jobs, it is good paying jobs. More to the point, it is the class warfare as the rich keep wages low and gain most of the benefits from labor. People are working, but the benefits of that labor are becoming more and more concentrated in the few. This is a huge problem, the major problem.

[Linda ladeewolf]

41. This! It's

Very difficult to be struggling with buying food and paying bills and think clearly about anything. I’ve been there. You blame anyone that’s handy. In the end though, it was the bosses who wouldn’t pay fairly unless you were a buddy. And people in charge that cut pay so they can have fat bonuses.

[LudwigPastorius]

35. Because they took er jerbs!

[OldBaldy1701E]

40. You got it! (n/t)

[thesquanderer]

42. I'd say it's some of each.

Yes, American companies outsourced jobs to countries with cheaper labor. But also, foreign companies themselves have sometimes created better and/or cheaper products, which stole market share from American companies. So there really are two ways we lost jobs to other countries.