The Democratic Party has a de facto platform on equality, reproductive rights and the environment.

[Zalatix]

How about outsourcing American jobs?

Are we going to ignore the biggest killer of the American working class since the days when Jay Gould openly bragged about pitting workers against each other?

There is a huge groundswell of opposition to foreign outsourcing in the Democratic Party. Few Democrats have ever lost who openly declared and actively pursued a political war on this EXTREMELY discriminatory policy of excluding Americans from the "global" economy.

Even the polls that show that Democrat support for this kind of discrimination is dropping like a stone. Few if any politicians, anywhere, tout their defense of 'free trade' as a reason to elect them; in fact nobody BRAGS about blocking laws or tariffs against it. Ever wonder why?

We need a Democratic party platform on this issue. Now.

[mitchtv]

1. Are you looking for a strong stand from the Dems?

Good Luck

[babylonsister]

2. They-WE-are working on it...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002315859

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002167954

[Zalatix]

3. I guess baby steps forward is better than standing still.

BTW one of those threads was one I started.

[babylonsister]

6. I hadn't even noticed that!

I think usually baby steps are the only way to get anything done in politics, especially with this group of rethugs who refuse to do squat.

[limpyhobbler]

4. we wish, but ...

Yeah we wish.

It seems like maybe one of the problems is that the government can't really stop a company from moving a factory overseas or sending computer work overseas, or call centers, etc. Well they can, but it is seen as an extreme measure.

Tariffs and other trade barriers like quotas would encourage US-made goods and help some.
But politicians mostly stay away from that kind of talk because they don't want to piss off other countries especially China.

And, I don't know but, doesn't it seem like we are locked into some of those trade treaties and pulling out of them would have to be like a whole big political battle?

Personally I think there is more the government can do to start controlling trade more based on labor, consumer and environmental concerns.

But any of those things only goes so far because they just make American-made products relatively cheaper for domestic consumers, and so they might encourage jobs. Or the surplus money from the increased purchase of domestic goods could roll straight into the pockets of the corporation owners.

The biggest reason why jobs move to other countries is for the cheap labor. And it doesn't seem like there is much the government can do about it, except try to encourage companies not to move the jobs away. But companies are always going to want to go where labor is cheapest. I don't know, I'm probably missing something.

In order to really save some of these jobs, we might need to find some other employers besides just companies that are only interested in the bottom line. The government might have to step in and take over or partially take over some of these workplaces to keep them operational. Or the government can block companies from moving factories, call centers, other jobs, etc. over seas and then management control can be shared between the government and a labor union.

But as long as making the maximum profit with the cheapest labor is the only concern, in the long run jobs are going to go where labor is cheap. So maybe it is time to start making some of these decisions, even if some people see it as extreme.

[Zalatix]

5. The solution is tariffs.

China depends on America for trade; their exports to us generate a ton of their jobs.

China lost 20 million jobs in 2008 when we had a recession.

If China retaliates against us for slapping tariffs on them, it's their asses that are more on the line than ours. They stand to lose as many as 100 million jobs from trade with us... then if they retaliate and the US dollar takes a hit, everyone ELSE they trade with takes big hits, too - since they also rely on exports to us. (See: the Middle East.)

Of course gasoline prices will skyrocket - all the better, we can start building electric cars HERE. The future will come very fast when gasoline prices hit $10/gallon (well, they already are way higher than $10/gallon when you consider all the external costs).