small fraction of what American workers would be paying for
the same job. In addition to the cut in salary cost, businesses
also outsource to reduce or eliminate costs of worker benefits
such as insurance, retirement, and safety precautions. Other
reasons for offshore outsourcing are to avoid U.S. government
taxation and regulation, labor unions, and environmental
concerns.
By far, the most common business process that is outsourced
is the manufacturing process. Almost all of the products that
Americans use are now being built in a country other than the
United States. Some of the other business processes that are
often sent overseas are phone-call services and software
related processes. These processes are electronically delivered
and can be done easily from an offshore location.
Hundreds of American businesses outsource to other
countries. Many of them outsource as many business processes
as they possibly can. But what will come of all this offshore
outsourcing? What effect is it going to have? Is outsourcing
good or bad for America and the world?
America is currently trillions of dollars in debt. Over half of
this debt is trade deficit caused by outsourcing to other
countries. Our trade deficit increases when we import more