Out of total direct U.S. overseas investment of $796 billion, nearly $400 billion was made in Europe . . . Foreign employment by U.S. corporations exhibited a similar pattern, with most workers hired in high-wage countries such as England, Germany and the Netherlands. Far fewer workers were hired in low-wage countries such as Thailand, Colombia and Philippines, the exception being Mexico.
Why are businesses hiring people overseas?
less predatory government and the absence of tort-lawyer extortion. While foreign governments can't be held guiltless of predation, their forms of predation might be cheaper to deal with than those of our EEOC, OSHA, EPA and IRS.
American workers are just about the most productive in the world -- however, our government and legal establishment have reduced that productive advantage.
We treat the legal system like lottery tickets. A recent book The Rule of Lawyers by Walter Olson examines this trend. Olson says that it all began with the Asbestos suits in the 1970s. That laid the groundwork for tobacco suits and every other personal behavior problem that some corporation should take blame for. What people forget is that these lawsuits hurt everybody. They result in higher prices and lost wages and even lost jobs.
When I was a just out of college working at the TV station a well-meaning liberal asked me if I would be interested in getting together a group of young people to help him win in his upcoming State Represetative Race. He was a nice man and even a business owner so I couldn't understand why he wanted to represent a party whose purpose is to grow the size of government at the expense of the private sector. He told me that it was simple, “Everybody owns the government. You, me and that guy over there, we're all the government. The government is us.” I laughed and said that the government doesn't even know who I am unless I am late on my taxes.
Had I knew then what I know now I would have offered to sell him my portion of the government. If I own it, Mike, and you like it so much, why don't you buy it from me? I'll sell you my portion real cheap. That is the essence of ownership. If you can't sell it, you don't really own it.
That is what confuses me about how people hate corporations. The structure might not make them the easiest place to work, but we all have the freedom to leave. They don't levy any taxes on us. We can actually own them by buying shares and selling them at our whim. They create products that we cannot live without. In fact, when the government takes our money to give to someone else, what do they do with the money? They spend it with a business.
Faults and all, businesses provide things that we can choose to buy or turn our nose at. They have to please us. The government only comes calling when they want money. If we go to them for a service it's never a pleasure. When we sue companies willy nilly and put them out of business it's no different than those idiots who burn down their own neighborhoods during a riot.
Why do we worship and trust the government and fret over the occasional Enron?
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