Essay: Corporate Greed

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

by TKH
Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 06:46:45 AM PDT

We are in a unique period in our history. Forces are at work to destroy America and our way of life. Below are two examples from my own life to prove the point:

* TKH's diary :: ::
*

Story One:

In 1994 I worked for GE as Senior software developer. This was before outsourcing jobs became a national subject. GE started using the H1B's available to import programmers from India who worked for TATA. We were told that GE was going to open an office in India and we should help these people learn the business. Since outsourcing wasn't even in our vocabulary, we didn't feel threatened.

So for 2+ years they cycled through our offices, staying from 3-6 months before going home. We had to take cultural acclamation classes to understand their culture. We taught them the business and even complained to management because we found that their salaries were so far below the minimum salary for the technical jobs they were doing.

This went on for 2 years before the pink slips began. A few here, a few there. At first no one connected these firings to our friends from India and GE’s new office in India. Eventually wholesale firings began and it became clear. I was fired in 1998. No reason given (no union). Just terminated. The office has now closed and over 100 programmers and support staff is gone.

Story Two:

I now work for a (unnamed) company that makes clothes. When I started in 1999 we had manufacturing plants throughout the South East. On a plant tour, of a manufacturing facility 1/2 hour down the road from our headquarters, I commented to our host that this was a beautiful plant and workers seemed happy and productive. He immediately laughed and said "how productive they are is irrelevant because within a year this plant will be closed". When I asked why, he told me that they could get the same clothes made in China, lose 15% on the boat trip during transit, and our company would still make more money on the product than from this plant.

Needless to say, by 2004 ALL of our American manufacturing plants were closed. New plants had been built in Mexico and other parts of the manufacturing process was in places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. Now even the plants in Mexico have closed because they were to expensive to run.

Conclusion:

I am not telling these stories to provoke sympathy. The point is that corporations are moving more and more plants and jobs offshore. They are crying about the lack of IT and skilled workers of all types and want even more HIB visas. Manufacturing jobs are becoming more scarce by the day. Contrary to corporate propaganda, there are plenty of skilled and unskilled workers in America to fill hi-tech jobs and the ever decreasing number of manufacturing jobs that are still available. It's just that corporations are not willing to pay American salaries and benefits to get a job done when they can use illegal or foreign labor to do the job for subsistence wages, with no benefits. That's capitalism at its finest.

Most people are under the misconception that a Corporation's business is to make consumer products or provide services. THAT AIN'T TRUE! A corporation's main business is to make money...PERIOD! Their products or services are simply tools to that end. What they are willing to do to make money is only bounded by what they can get away with legally and illegally. Morals and patriotism are not requirements to make money. Employees are also expendable tools to be used and discarded, as required. Corporations do not care about the American people or sustaining our way of life. The American public is still the largest corporate consumer in the world, but as our wages drop and foreign countries take more and more of our jobs, we will become less relevant to their bottom line each year.

Slowly, but surely, our standard of living is dropping. We are slowly spiraling downward to a 3rd world status and could arrive there sometime this century. An old adage goes, "if you want to cook a frog, don't toss him into a pot of boiling water, he'll jump out, BUT if you put him in a pot of cold water and turn the heat up slowly, he'll boil to death before he realizes he's even being cooked". That's us...little frogs, ever so quietly getting screwed from all directions by corporations and their paid lobbyists (our legislators) in Washington. That sort of sums up the American worker. Most people, who do not pay attention to politics (the majority of this country), go about their daily lives seeing bad things happening to OTHER people. They think: "not me, never me". They are complacent because the screws are being applied to their thumbs so slowly that it doesn't hurt yet. By the time the pain becomes unbearable and they realize what is happening, it could be to late.

Corporations care about one thing... PROFIT! They will be patriotic and wave the red, white, and blue only as long as there is a dollar to be made. They will move an entire corporation overseas if they can make 2 dollars instead of one. The American people need to wake up soon and join the fight against corporate greed and to preserve our way of life. We're all in this together people. We either help each other get the message out, OR THEY WIN, and just like the little frog...we're all cooked.

[Darth Wong]

Unless people start refusing to buy goods that are made abroad no matter how cheap they are, this trend will continue no matter what this guy or anyone else says.

[Patrick Degan]

Shit like this is why trade unions really are a good idea.

[Darth Wong]

Shit like this is why trade unions really are a good idea.

Trade unions can't stop outsourcing. If anything, they are a large part of the reason why corporations want to outsource. Even an unspeakably powerful and resolute trade union could accomplish, at best, the bankruptcy of the corporation they're trying to blackmail, while its outsourcing competitors kick its ass in the market.

The only real solution lies in a customer revolt against Third World manufactured goods, and that won't happen.

[Patrick Degan]

True enough. Unions by the action of the strike can't do a goddamned thing. I merely observe that in the days when the working class were far more organised and wielded political as well as economic clout, the politicians actually had to listen to them. Today, the workers are effectively atomised as a force —completely isolated and powerless within the company, and stripped of all collective political power outside it. Nobody has to listen to them now, which is why they're taking it up the ass and there's nothing they can do about it.

[Darth Wong]

True enough. Unions by the action of the strike can't do a goddamned thing. I merely observe that in the days when the working class were far more organised and wielded political as well as economic clout, the politicians actually had to listen to them. Today, the workers are effectively atomised as a force —completely isolated and powerless within the company, and stripped of all collective political power outside it. Nobody has to listen to them now, which is why they're taking it up the ass and there's nothing they can do about it.

The blue-collar working class is actually part of the problem, never mind lacking the power to be part of the solution. They're the ones trying to live an upper-class life on lower-class wage, and to do this, they've rushed wholeheartedly into the embrace of Wal-Mart, despite the common knowledge that Wal-Mart is China Retail Incorporated.

Every time the working class buys Chinese-made Wal-Mart goods, they contribute to outsourcing. But they seem totally oblivious to this fact, and continue to buy Chinese-made goods while wondering why the politicians can't save their jobs.

[Spyder]

Purchasing labour from countries with lax labour laws is somewhat similar to having people you want to 'interrorgate' sent to foreign countries with lax torture laws.

In one way or another, most of us do proffit off the labour of people working in situations where they have the option of working at plant A for a slave wage, plant B for a slave wage, or dying of starvation. We've actually discovered a form of salvery that is legal and in some cases probably cheaper then trafficking slaves out of their home country.

[K. A. Pital]

I've long said that globalization the way it's carried out now is a form of enslaving the populations of Third World countries.

Absolute visa freedom does not exist, while capitals move in and out of a country with exceptional ease.

Nation-states lose power over their territories, natural resources, even human resources.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Shit like this is why trade unions really are a good idea.

Trade unions can't stop outsourcing. If anything, they are a large part of the reason why corporations want to outsource. Even an unspeakably powerful and resolute trade union could accomplish, at best, the bankruptcy of the corporation they're trying to blackmail, while its outsourcing competitors kick its ass in the market.

The only real solution lies in a customer revolt against Third World manufactured goods, and that won't happen.

Tariffs tied to human rights and hidden fuel costs, along with much higher gasoline/diesel taxes would go a long way.

[Stuart Mackey]

Shit like this is why trade unions really are a good idea.

Trade unions can't stop outsourcing. If anything, they are a large part of the reason why corporations want to outsource. Even an unspeakably powerful and resolute trade union could accomplish, at best, the bankruptcy of the corporation they're trying to blackmail, while its outsourcing competitors kick its ass in the market.

The only real solution lies in a customer revolt against Third World manufactured goods, and that won't happen.

Tariffs tied to human rights and hidden fuel costs, along with much higher gasoline/diesel taxes would go a long way.

Trouble is that such action sooner or later becomes a state subsidy and that line will inevitable get trotted out by every badly run company, lobbyist and pet politician, not for any concern for human rights, but as a poorly disguised grab for taxpayers monies to save them from their own poor management or inability to change.
Needless to say, state protection also prevents said third world nations from ever actually earning a living and improving their lot in life, not because they don't want to, but because rich nations governments are not interested in human rights, but of shoring up their own political career and are happy to biff entire peoples on the scrap heap to do it.
Seems to me that the third world gets screwed whatever way you cut it.

[Alan Bolte]

This is how the world works right now, and I don't see a feasible way to change it. The question in my mind is, what affect is it going to have in the future? Eventually, American and similar consumers aren't going to have jobs that pay well enough to live the kind of lifestyles they've been trying to live, regardless of credit. The devaluing of the Dollar and stagnant wages is ample evidence of that. When demand for cheapest-available products begins to decrease, I suspect we shall see an equalization of standard of living across much of the planet. It's only when there are no countries left to cheaply industrialize that we'll see first world standard of living start to rise again. This is ignoring spiraling energy costs, though, a sharp increase in the cost to ship goods from one side of the world to the other could change the situation in ways I can't predict.

I'm no expert, of course.

[brianeyci]

There is of course another way to view this: that it is an inevitable cost of capitalism and the "growing pains" of globalization. I'm not necessarily liking the way it is, but it's hard to see any way around it. I like the idea of a global citizen and I don't see why Americans have an intrinsic right to what they have economically more than a Chinese person just because they were born in a certain place.

I honestly would not mind if all the manufacturing and IT jobs went to other countries and the only thing left was professionals such as Doctors or academics and services. Of course the destruction of manufacturing would mean destruction of the middle class, but that is not necessarily such a bad thing.

The main problem I see is the creation of an aristocracy which does not give a fuck about the poor, if the middle class is non-existant. But the IT boom happened in the past decade and it can go back to the way it was: mobility achieved by lower class saving up enough to make a retail business to redistribute goods they procure from around the world. It's a shame that the route of technical competence in computers will be cut off, but oh well. Even the academic route may need to be destroyed to repair the system: universities and colleges are overflowing with people who shouldn't need to waste four years to learn how to move some papers across a desk. As long as upward mobility exists, no matter the method, I will be happy.

It's why I don't think the statistics about a "global shortage of IT workers" is being entirely accurate. Yes there is a shortage, but what exactly does that mean? It is not exactly a stable career choice, since at any moment you could be outsourced, unless you have to be physically there such as a network administrator. And most computer science people train to be computer programmers.

[Starglider]

I honestly would not mind if all the manufacturing and IT jobs went to other countries and the only thing left was professionals such as Doctors or academics and services.

You want to live in a country completely at the mercy of foreign exports and fuel prices?

Of course the destruction of manufacturing would mean destruction of the middle class, but that is not necessarily such a bad thing.

Note that this means removing the medium-salary positions that support a moderately well off lifestyle, not bringing up 'working class' salaries.

The main problem I see is the creation of an aristocracy which does not give a fuck about the poor, if the middle class is non-existant. But the IT boom happened in the past decade and it can go back to the way it was: mobility achieved by lower class saving up enough to make a retail business to redistribute goods they procure from around the world.

Are you on crack? Have you been totally oblivious to Wal Mart destroying 'mom and pop' stores across America by the hundreds of thousands? Of Starbucks pushing tens of thousands of independent coffee shops out of business? Of high streets everwhere becoming more and more homogeneous; identical parades of chain stores?

It's a shame that the route of technical competence in computers will be cut off, but oh well.

Eventually the whole finance industry will go as well; the lower levels (back office and call centre stuff) already have. A fair amount of the legal profession can do (legal research and document preparation). Then there's medical tourism, which high US health care costs are making very attractive.

You cannot sustain a nation on builders, lawyers, hairdressers and waitresses.

Even the academic route may need to be destroyed to repair the system:

You haven't proposed any kind of 'repair'.

As long as upward mobility exists, no matter the method, I will be happy.

And you haven't proposed how to improve upward mobility, only how it will continue to decline.

It's why I don't think the statistics about a "global shortage of IT workers" is being entirely accurate. Yes there is a shortage, but what exactly does that mean?

There isn't an absolute shortage. As with most other shortages, it's a shortage of quality people willing to work at the (low) salaries corporations want to pay. Corporate leaders hope that by re-flooding the field with people who invested in an IT education and are desperate to get something out of it, they will be able to hire people for half of what they're worth at will.

And most computer science people train to be computer programmers.

Yes well they're all going to be automated away in the next few decades anyway (as I've often said, this is what my own company is working on), but that's a separate issue from globalisation and rapidly increasing economic stratification.

[Darth Wong]

Basically, the only way to be financially secure in the coming decades is to be heavily invested into the corporations that are fucking everyone over. In other words, the trend of "investors get even richer, workers get fucked" will continue.

[brianeyci]

I honestly would not mind if all the manufacturing and IT jobs went to other countries and the only thing left was professionals such as Doctors or academics and services.

You want to live in a country completely at the mercy of foreign exports and fuel prices?

You are already at the mercy of foreign fuel prices. Fuel has nothing to do with manufacturing and IT moving away: OPEC can fuck over America if it wanted to because they have the natural resource, oil. No amount of protectionism will change that. Whether I would want to live at the mercy is irrelevant: it is bound to happen with a global society and some would argue is already true.

Of course the destruction of manufacturing would mean destruction of the middle class, but that is not necessarily such a bad thing.

Note that this means removing the medium-salary positions that support a moderately well off lifestyle, not bringing up 'working class' salaries.

So what. The middle class has been the most spoiled in the history of mankind. The destruction of the middle class was actually proposed by IP in another thread and the more I think about it the more I like it.

The main problem I see is the creation of an aristocracy which does not give a fuck about the poor, if the middle class is non-existant. But the IT boom happened in the past decade and it can go back to the way it was: mobility achieved by lower class saving up enough to make a retail business to redistribute goods they procure from around the world.

Are you on crack? Have you been totally oblivious to Wal Mart destroying 'mom and pop' stores across America by the hundreds of thousands? Of Starbucks pushing tens of thousands of independent coffee shops out of business? Of high streets everwhere becoming more and more homogeneous; identical parades of chain stores?

There is not a simple answer to this. What you have to ask yourself is this: did labor laws come in as a reaction to capitalism, or did capitalism come in as a reaction to strong labor laws. That is, whether countries around the world can elevate their standard of living so they come to expect benefits and proper treatment from employers by either having laws come into place forcing employers to adhere to Western standards, or whether the higher standard of living has to come first before the people expect greater pay and benefits.

The answer is the latter. For example, once illegal immigrants come to America, they begin living the good life and expect the standards applied there even though they're illegal. So whether I like it or not, whether I find it distasteful or not, eventually global redistribution of resources and expectations will make it so these "third world" countries expect a higher standard of living and employers will be forced to give it to them or move elsewhere. This is what happened with Japan, then Singapore moving to India, then China.

In other words Wal Marts may be the inevitable precursor of a global society, and if so that is the price to pay.

I'm assuming that globalization is still possible after Peak Oil and that is beyond the scope of this thread anyway and I don't want to debate that.

It's a shame that the route of technical competence in computers will be cut off, but oh well.

Eventually the whole finance industry will go as well; the lower levels (back office and call centre stuff) already have. A fair amount of the legal profession can do (legal research and document preparation). Then there's medical tourism, which high US health care costs are making very attractive.

You cannot sustain a nation on builders, lawyers, hairdressers and waitresses.

Lawyers are overrepresented in the United States. By the way I couldn't give a shit about Finance. The US is heavily dependent on people working in the financial sector, but as mentioned by others notably IP, a nation is not made by financial experts. You sure can sustain a nation on local endeavours, and if you don't got raw materials well you're shit out of luck. I admit when I think of manufacturing I am thinking of things like GM and light industry and not high technology, which the US will still keep a lead in, or even high quality steels.

Even the academic route may need to be destroyed to repair the system:

You haven't proposed any kind of 'repair'.

Sure I have: destruction of the middle class. It's an option people do not like, because it means countless Americans will not be able to live the lifestyle they are right now. But better to accept it now than continue to go into perpetual debt.

As long as upward mobility exists, no matter the method, I will be happy.

And you haven't proposed how to improve upward mobility, only how it will continue to decline.

Sure there is mobility: other citizens in other countries are moving up. I take a global view of the human race, and if the jobs are moving from here to somewhere else, their mobility is increased. I'm sorry I'm not giving you the answer you want to hear. If you want to keep the lifestyle of America the way it is and keep the jobs in here, well good luck because the invisible hand of economics says that people will always buy the cheapest shit and barring some quasi-religious protectionist movement to buy only Made in USA crap, it will happen.

There isn't an absolute shortage. As with most other shortages, it's a shortage of quality people willing to work at the (low) salaries corporations want to pay. Corporate leaders hope that by re-flooding the field with people who invested in an IT education and are desperate to get something out of it, they will be able to hire people for half of what they're worth at will.

What they're "worth" is what the market is willing to pay. A career isn't a reward of time served in college. Most people seem to want to come out of college and have a lifetime career to pay off their hard work. Well unfortunately the labor theory of economics is bull, since a hammer in the desert is worthless. So I am sorry again, but if a computer eduation turns out to be something that doesn't make money because nobody wants to pay for their skills, then that's the way economics works and their worth is shit.

And most computer science people train to be computer programmers.

Yes well they're all going to be automated away in the next few decades anyway (as I've often said, this is what my own company is working on), but that's a separate issue from globalisation and rapidly increasing economic stratification.

I do not like economic stratification: but look at the excess and utter waste in America right now. The most responsible are the middle class, and to a lesser extent the lower class. But simply by having less purchasing power, the lower class isn't the most responsible (unless the upper class decides to take advantage of them with bullshit like subprime mortgage, sane investors would not lend money to the lower class.) No, it's the middle class who have suburban homes, drive SUV's, give their children allowances to buy expensive clothes and buy four cars that are most responsible for the waste, and that has to be destroyed somehow, either sooner or later. It's not the answer anybody wants to hear.

[Adrian Laguna]

The only real solution lies in a customer revolt against Third World manufactured goods, and that won't happen.

Actually, there is another solution. It still requires consumer revolt, but more indirect, and perhaps even plausible if the US government wasn't currently composed of corporate whores. See below.

Every time the working class buys Chinese-made Wal-Mart goods, they contribute to outsourcing. But they seem totally oblivious to this fact, and continue to buy Chinese-made goods while wondering why the politicians can't save their jobs.

This might be the reason God bestowed tariffs unto Man. Foreign goods too cheap? Tax them 'till they're not.

[Adrian Laguna]

Purchasing labour from countries with lax labour laws is somewhat similar to having people you want to 'interrorgate' sent to foreign countries with lax torture laws.

In one way or another, most of us do proffit off the labour of people working in situations where they have the option of working at plant A for a slave wage, plant B for a slave wage, or dying of starvation. We've actually discovered a form of salvery that is legal and in some cases probably cheaper then trafficking slaves out of their home country.

You said it yourself, the people in these third-world country can either work in the factory or starve to death. Before the factory was there, everyone was starving to death. So First World consumerism has, in fact, driven wages up in the Third World country and reduced death and suffering. Isn't this a good thing?