News, Losses Severe For U.S. Workers With 3.2M Jobs Gone Since Start Of 2000. (Corporate Profits, McCain)

[JD59]

Three weeks ago, Dawn Zimmer became a statistic.

Laid off from her job assembling trucks at Freightliner’s plant in Portland, Ore., she and 800 of her colleagues joined a long line of U.S. manufacturing workers who have lost jobs in recent years. A total of 3.2 million — one in six factory jobs — have disappeared since the start of 2000.

Many people believe those jobs will never come back.

‘‘They are building a multimillion-dollar plant in Mexico and they are going to build the Freightliners down there. They came in and videotaped us at work so they could train the Mexican workers,’’ said Zimmer, 55, who had worked at Freightliner since 1994.

http://post-journal.com/articles.asp?articleID=14755 (broken link)

[LeavingFlorida05]

These jobs are replaced with jobs like "Wal-Mart greeter" and "McDonald's hamburger flipper", so this administration claims to be creating jobs.

[James T]

Come on, folks. Hannity, Rush, and numerous other Neocon apologists say the economy is doing great; how can it be otherwise? Yeah, most of these new jobs are low paying service sector jobs that most teenagers can do, but come on, we'll fix our economy by eventually selling air conditioners to India, so everything will work out, right? Mega-dittoes...

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by LeavingFlorida05

These jobs are replaced with jobs like "Wal-Mart greeter" and "McDonald's hamburger flipper", so this administration claims to be creating jobs.

during the presidential debates 2004 Bush mentioned that all those workers should go back to school to get more education

(Yes- they have 2-5 kids- a mortgage, and can go back to college at age 55- )

It just shows the contempt and disregard this Administration has for what is actually the reality for American workers. Detroit must look like a ghost town by now.

sunny

[tigerlily]

Here's another article on this subject. According to this article from the Seattle Times they're trying to increase number of HB-1 visa applications. Ted Kennedy and John McCain claim that the bill contains a clause stating that Americans must be offered jobs first. According to the article, this is not true. Doesn't state who sponsored the bill. Freightliner is bringing in programmers from India on these visas.


Link and clip:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003668844&zsection_id=2 68883724&slug=harrop17&date=20070417 (broken link)

The master plan, it seems, is to move perhaps 40 million high-skill American jobs to other countries. U.S. workers have not been consulted.

Princeton economist Alan Blinder predicts that these choice jobs could be lost in a mere decade or two. We speak of computer programming, bookkeeping, graphic design and other careers once thought firmly planted in American soil. For perspective, 40 million is more than twice the total number of people now employed in manufacturing.
...What America can do to stop this is unclear, but it certainly doesn't have to speed up the process through a government program. We refer to the H-1B visa program, which allows educated foreigners to work in the United States, usually for three years. Many in Congress want to nearly double the number of H-1B visas, to 115,000 a year. ...

[LeavingFlorida05]

We're being sold out for corporate profits, by both parties.

[Snaily]

The economy is changing, its no longer the case you can pick a career and do it for your entire life. Passing a much of laws that isolate the US economy aren't going to make the US more competitive. Americans need to adjust to the new economy realities, that or slowly become economically irrelevant like France.

[James T]

Originally Posted by Snaily

The economy is changing, its no longer the case you can pick a career and do it for your entire life. Passing a much of laws that isolate the US economy aren't going to make the US more competitive. Americans need to adjust to the new economy realities, that or slowly become economically irrelevant like France.

There is nothing to adjust to. The plan is to flood the market with labor in an attempt to devalue it, save those at the top who reap the profits.

[DontH8Me]

Originally Posted by James T

There is nothing to adjust to. The plan is to flood the market with labor in an attempt to devalue it, save those at the top who reap the profits.

Which we already saw as a result of the depression and the flood of "Oakies" as described so poignantly in The Grapes of Wrath. History repeats itself, except this time, they (corporations) are not doing it to our own, they are using another nation's down and out. How is this now somehow acceptable, vs. what was done in the Central Valley of California back in the 30s? We all condemn how those families were treated, how they lived in shanties, etc., etc. Well why are the shanties of illegals now ok?

Why are we as a nation saying, "well, who among us would be willing to do those kinds of menial jobs?" I'll tell you who - those who would be willing to do minimum wage jobs before they got pushed out of the job market. I worked a minimum wage summer job when I was 17 years old, and I learned a lot from it! We all need to start somewhere, right? I mean, this is a value of an educated society, to begin to be a responsible person as early in life as possible. Are teens these days doing anything aside from toking up and playing video games? No, and those who would, can't, because if they don't speak Spanish they are no longer viable in that employment sector.

What strikes me the most is how inhumane this behavior is towards those who are residing here illegally, and if fixing it means paying $5 for a box of strawberries then sign me up! I'm already paying through the nose for their upkeep in other areas (housing, medical care, schooling, etc.) so what's $5 for a box of strawberries??

[James T]

Indeed. If I wanted an allowance as a youth, I did yard work, such as mowing the lawn, etc. To make extra money, my friend and I washed cars around the neighborhood. We were about twelve at the time. When I turned seventeen, I worked as a cashier at a restaurant making $4.50 an hour. I went on to do other jobs that "Americans won't do" for minimum wage or slightly more. Here I am in my thirties, with an engineering degree, looking for another transitional job, and due to outsourcing and immigration the pickings are very slim. And if I take a "McJob", I better not screw up, because there will be a dozen immigrants waiting to take it. Hooray for globalization. Are we enjoying ourselves, gated community elitists?