Letters: The real problem with outsourcing

Re “Outsourcing’s bum rap,” Opinion, July 12

Michael Kinsley is right that outsourcing jobs is not necessarily bad. The problem for American workers is not the loss of jobs that pay little. The more serious problem is that we have not invested in education and training to replace those losses with jobs that pay well.

The Republicans’ obsession with low taxes is forcing cities to declare bankruptcy. Schools are laying off teachers and cutting instruction days. For college students, tuition increases regularly.

To justify this myopic vision of no taxes, we typically hear that we don’t want to be like Europe, defined as Greece. Europe, however, is also Germany, which has high taxes, strong unions, solid investments in education, universal healthcare and a strong economy. Maybe we should follow the German model.

Domenico Maceri

San Luis Obispo

Kinsley argues that manufacturing worldwide is not a zero-sum game. However, after promoting “free trade” for two decades, the economy of China is growing at about 10% a year, the U.S. economy is stagnant and the economy of Europe is shrinking. Does Kinsley think this is a coincidence?

Tim Bradley

Irvine

Outsourcing is a dirty word because there is no true free trade.

This country lets its companies stand or fall on their own, whereas other countries are partners with the companies and corporations that engage in trade with the United States and other nations. There is no level playing field here. Those in most other countries (with the exception of China) whose jobs are lost to outsourcing are supported in other ways.

Rosella A. Alm

West Covina

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