It will be hard to get CEO's to stop sending jobs overseas when they must generate a profit at least equal to their competitors or face the threat of replacement.
If a company wants to move a percentage of their R&D overseas by setting up a division there, and the government finds a way to block that move, the company will simply hire a company in India or China to do the R&D. Telling a company that they cannot outsource is like telling the American people that they cannot buy a product because it is made outside the U.S. If that were the case, you would find there was a thriving black market in TVs, cars, toys, cell phones and all the other things they now buy at Wal-Mart because the prices are lower. Companies will automatically stop outsourcing if what they can obtain in the U.S. has more VALUE. It doesn't have to be cheaper if it is clearly better. If U.S. made products were technologically superior, or had much greater quality, then the fact that Chinese-made goods were cheaper wouldn't be much of an issue.
The world is becoming "flat". Wherever in the world a company or a person can get the greatest value is where that product will be made and sold. Our only hope is to become so talented, so innovative and so customer-oriented that everyone in the world will demand U.S. made goods even if they do cost a bit more.
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
