Clinton did start this debackle and Bush has supercharged it.
Bush has refused to enforce or file complaints about China to the WTO
on behalf of manufacturers and his trade representative has been pushing through as many trade agreements as possible. This article gives
an overview, but believe me this is NOT good! We have a record trade deficit.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/09/23/EDGCS8T3U01.DTLWhy ooutsourcing is such a hot topic:
Because for the 1st time in history, almost any professional service
can be done in a 3rd world nation for much cheaper. This means
that attorneys, engineers, scientists are easily replaced for cheaper
labor, even when they have MDs and PHDs. this is the "race to the bottom" and says almost any American has no security or stability
in a career. It takes about 11 years to obtain a PhD from the beginning of college, so it's absurd to think a PhD should "retrain" since they are an expert in their field...
Before cheap telephone and Internet services needed to be local
and the "goods of production", i.e. ideas in this case, could not
be sent around the globe in a nanosecond. Lack of mobility of goods
of production is one of the assumptions necessary for comparative advantage to work (this is the basis of free trade theory).
What this means is the entire middle class can be fired and cheaper
foreigners hired in 3rd world nations to do the work...
so what America becomes is a country of the ruling elite and the
poverty striken masses, taken to it's conclusion.
See my website for my articles, books, analysis on why this is a critical issue.