Bailouts…

I may have missed it, but except for one government representative during one of the auto bailout discussions in past weeks, no one seems to have said anything about the wisdom of bailing out companies who offshore outsource their customer service, manufacturing and/or parts.  Just think of the last few times you called a company’s customer service department and your call was answered by someone who barely spoke the English language, or who spoke it with a very heavy accent.  How long did that call take?  Do you think your customer service experience was helped or hindered by translation issues caused by language barriers?

Why bail out a company whose customer service department is peopled in New Delhi or Manila?  I don’t think that my tax money should be used to keep Rajid in New Delhi employed.  I think that the company for whom Rajid works should be hiring Brian or Susan in Chicago and keeping jobs in America.

People in the United States of America are hurting for jobs, and employers are taking advantage of this desperation by offering low wages for duty-heavy jobs in the few positions still open in this country.  IT positions are offering lousy wages and require lots of job responsibility and a college education (with at least a Bachelor’s degree) to boot.

It’s illogical and unreasonable to expect someone to manage an office, for example, for $12 an hour when they live in Southern California.  The net income on those wages for a full time position would do a poor job of supporting a single person.  Thus, many people are working more than one job to attempt to make ends meet.  One can only imagine what this would bode for single parents of young children. 

A gallon of whole milk averages $3.50 at this point at major groceries in the Los Angeles area.  Eggs are considered a bargain at $1.50 a dozen.  A loaf of halfway decent bread, on sale, will run about $2.  Doctor visits, vaccinations, clothing, housing, utilities and more often leave people with too much month at the end of the money.

Let’s require these companies who have come forward with their hands out to only hire from within our country’s borders.  That customer service departments, manufacturing, service and parts come from within the United States of America.

If my taxes are going to help bail out these idiots, I should have some say in the requirements attached to the bailout check.

Doesn’t that sound fair to you?

UPDATE 1-10-2009:  The banks want the Fed to start buying their bad paper so they look better…

Leave It To The Shrub…

I see that Shrubya made a decision to hand out $17.4B to two of the Big Three to “bail out” the auto industry, Chrysler and General Motors.  (Ford Motor Company has indicated they don’t need “immediate help”.)   He’s taken this money from the preexisting $700B bank bailout funds (which I’ll address in a future post).

I’m not happy with this, but there’s nothing that can be done about it now.  However, I’ll be keeping an eye on where these funds go, as I believe that all three have facilities outside the United States which employ foreign workers.

They are also saying that the same limits which apply to banks for bonuses/compensation apply to the auto industry, however, those restrictions are toothless.  The preconditions that would prohibit those bonuses/compensation are a moot point, as the specified auctions that would require those limitations won’t take place.  I want to read the exact wording of The Shrub’s Executive Order to see the covenants, codes and restrictions the two automobile manufacturers will need to observe.

It should prove interesting.