Paul Craig Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration, associate editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and contributing editor of National Review--a pedigreed conservative, in other words--writes a frightening article in Counterpunch on the ultimate result of outsourcing:

As the factories move overseas, the technology and expertise will follow them. American “manufacturers” are becoming merely marketers of foreign made goods. The CEOs and shareholders have too short a time horizon to understand that once foreigners control the manufacture-design- innovation process, they will bypass American brand names. US companies will simply cease to exist.

Yet we are being told by the power elite and the economists that are paid by them that outsourcing is the key to future economic prosperity and all we need to do is retrain and reeducate displaced workers to participate in this coming abundance. Roberts swats that one down, too:

The assertion that we hear every day that America is falling behind because it doesn’t produce enough science, mathematics and engineering graduates is a bald-faced lie. The problem is always brought back to education failures in K-12, that is, to more education subsidies. When CEOs say they can’t find American engineers, they mean they cannot find Americans who will work for Chinese or Indian wages. That is what the so-called “shortage” is all about.

I receive a constant stream of emails from unemployed and underemployed engineers with many years of experience and advanced degrees. Many have been out of work for years. They describe the movement of their jobs offshore or their replacement by foreigners brought in on work visas. Many no longer even know American engineers who are employed in the profession. Some are now working in sawmills, others in Home Depot, and others are attempting to eke out a living as consultants. Many describe lost homes, broken marriages, even imprisonment for inability to make child support payments.

I hope everyone concerned with the welfare of our children and grandchildren reads this article. I hope every Mississippian that isn't completely blinded by political prejudice realizes that the people that lead Washington today are not our friends unless we are millionaires. The time is getting short.

Read and heed: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts02162006.html