Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2004 22:37:19 -0800 From: Norm Matloff To: Norm Matloff Subject: the hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton To: H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter The enclosure below, sent to me by a reader, is apparently from the Lou Dobbs show on February 12. (I apologize for not posting more Dobbs stuff here. There are usually several relevant items per week on his excellent show, but I just don't have time to analyze and post them all.) To me, the most interesting passage is the one in which she criticizes Bush and the Republican Party for allowing jobs to be offshored. The fact is that both parties have an absolutely abysmal record on foreign labor (whether imported or in India). Keep in mind that Hillary has been personally promoting Tata Consultancy Services--one of the biggest Indian software firms offering H-1B/L-1 labor in the U.S. and labor in India--in the state of New York. See my posting on her tight connection with Tata at http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Hillary.txt Her castigation of Bush is colossal hypocrisy. Norm DOBBS: Good evening. President Bush today acknowledged that American jobs are being shipped to cheap labor markets overseas, what we call here the exporting of America. President Bush promised to take action -- quote -- "to make sure there are more jobs at home." But the president did not repudiate his top economic adviser's claim that outsourcing jobs is good for America. Peter Viles has the report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Pennsylvania, where 132,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared, the president acknowledged, outsourcing is part of the problem. GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are people looking for work because jobs have gone overseas. And we need to act in this country. We need to act to make sure there are more jobs at home. VILES: But the president did not challenge the conclusion of his own economic team that -- quote -- "When a good or a service is produced more cheaply abroad, it makes more sense to import it than to make or provide it domestically." And that blanket endorsement of outsourcing has economic adviser Greg Mankiw in hot water, but Democrats try to keep the focus on the president. SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: This is the president's economic policy. And we cannot permit our Republican friends to try to shift the blame and the burden to Mr. Mankiw. VILES: Senate Democrats pushing new legislation that would bring outsourcing under government scrutiny. SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: Companies that export U.S. jobs would be required to disclose how many jobs are being shipped overseas, where they are going, and why. VILES: The larger issue here is not corporate behavior. It's American trade policy, which now officially encouraged outsourcing. MIKE EMMONS, FORMER TECH WORKER: When you move these goods high- tech jobs out of the country, there goes the R&D right behind it. They say they only do the low-end grunt work. Well, that's not correct. They are going after each and every job they can get. And I don't fault them so much. I fault our government for not standing up and stopping it. VILES: On that trade issue, the administration continues to maintain -- quote -- "Free trade is win-win."