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Top McCain Campaign Adviser Outsources U.S. Jobs |
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It seems that each day that goes by reveals a new surprise in Sen. John McCain’s campaign for president.
Last week, we learned one of McCain’s fundraisers lobbied for the Colombian government, pushing an anti-worker trade deal that McCain supports (despite the fact that dozens of union members are killed every month). This week, it comes out that McCain is taking his economic advice from a former lobbyist for a bank with interests in the housing market. And already there’s another revelation about someone on McCain’s campaign staff: One of his top money men is responsible for outsourcing thousands of jobs.
Hat tip to Cliff Schecter at Firedoglake who yesterday wrote how McCain top adviser, Randy Altschuler, is the founder of OfficeTiger, a company based in Chennai, India. OfficeTiger’s mission was to convince U.S. companies to outsource jobs to India—and it seems Altschuler has been quite successful in shipping out U.S. jobs.
A 2005 USA Today article explains the nature of Altschuler’s business.
OfficeTiger sells a host of services to banks, print shops, insurance companies and other clients demanding high-quality work at rock-bottom prices. An investment bank, for example, might want research on a client’s competitors for a sales presentation. A print shop in Iowa might need type set for a restaurant menu.
OfficeTiger workers in Chennai do the work, then ship it back to the USA over the Internet for a fraction of the cost if done in the USA. Altschuler wouldn’t disclose wage rates in India. But he didn’t dispute VC [venture capital firm] estimates that labor costs there are often one-fifth those in the USA.
When it comes to jobs, McCain doesn’t seem to get it. He made a speech about his support of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other bad trade agreements in front of a shuttered Ohio factory. He claims the overwhelming percentage of Americans who think the country is on the wrong track are just sad that the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement isn’t getting passed. His economic plans are insufficient to the challenges we’re facing—and he’s claimed that the idea there’s a recession is mostly “psychological.”
Maybe it’s because he spends more time listening to his big-money fundraisers like Altschuler than he does to working families. In the you’re-on-your-own economy, Altschuler is doing just fine—but the people whose jobs are shipped overseas aren’t so lucky.
McCain needs to listen to working families, not his fellow millionaires, and propose solutions that will turn around America.
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It is absolutely amazing what Barack Obama has been able to do while up against the Clinton “machine”. The excitement is definitely building up for him! Check out this picture to bring along to the convention or to have at home if you’re not able to attend.
http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_npmv=3&_trksid=m38&_nkw=the+audacity+of+hope&_sacat=550
Common sense says that McCain and Bush are wrong when it comes to Colombia.
As pointed out in another blog here, the president of Colombia is listed on an American intelligence report as being involved in drugs in Colombia and a book by the lover of Pablo Escobar quotes the world’s most famous drug lord as crediting President Uribe as helping them get drugs to the USA. Yet this is person that McCain and Bush call a friend and ally.
Both men have condemned Venezuela as being supporters of the drug dealing terrorists in Colombia. But if that were so, wouldn’t the drug dealers just move there and avoid the problems in Colombia? When Plan Colombia started 12 of Colombia’s 34 providences were growing cocaine. Yet now under Uribe, 23 of the provinces are growing cocaine. http://www.reason.com/blog/show/126738.html
That info gives credence to the belief by many Colombians that the politicians keep the drug war going because they are making money through corruption from the already over $5.5 BILLION that has been given to the country by the USA.
Oh, but others say that another part of Plan Colombia was to strengthen the judicial system in Colombia. Report after report states that Colombia’s judicial system remains under funded and under staffed. And I would not even call the Plan Colombia money working with less than a 3% arrest and conviction rate for murders of union members (especially when most reports state the murders have been done by the government-linked paramilitary).
But let’s look at those computers that Colombia and much of the McCain and Bush controlled press like to tout as evidence. Well, the ones captured in the illegal invasion of Ecuador by Colombia were supposedly guarded and turned safely over to Interpol. Then the American news states that Interpol says they belonged to Reyes and implicate Chavez. Hmm, but the actual Interpol report says, “The verification of the eight seized FARC computer exhibits by INTERPOL does not imply the validation of the accuracy of the user files, the validation of any country’s interpretation
of the user files or the validation of the source of the user files.”
And the files themselves have not been turned over to other international organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS) to which the US and Colombia both belong. So one must wonder if there is evidence in those files implicating the paramilitary and the Colombian elite.
For those interested in another person’s problems with what the news says and what is in the report read here: http://miami.indymedia.org/news/2008/05/11127.php
But when it came to extraditing the paramilitary lords, things changed. The computers were not secured and one particular one is still missing:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-laptops30-2008may30,0,120889.story?track=rss
The FTA with Colombia is the most ridiculous thing McCain wants to pass. An honest look at it and at Colombia reveals it is bad for the majority of citizens and workers in both countries. Not a single point the administration makes for passage for the FTA holds up to scrutiny. Despite improvements shown on paper, when one applies common sense and looks at the end result it shows a different story. Colombia still is the world leader in shipment of cocaine; It continues to lead the world in deaths of union members. It is considered the most violent country in the Western Hemisphere by International studies. It has one of the most unequal divisions of wealth, not just in the region, but in the entire world. It is estimated that anywhere from 30% to 50% of its legislative branch is controlled by right-wing terrorists that have done murders and human rights abuses for the government. Murders of innocent citizens by Colombian security forces is even reported in US State Department reports as being on the increase. And many international reports (including those by the US government) show Colombian corruption to be a major problem. I have seen papers indicating that as much as 80% of a project’s money has gone into political pockets to give some impunity for human rights abuses.
The US media is terrible at reporting these problems and abuses. For instance two recent publications from the United Kingdom (England) show closer to what is happening. Yet none of this news is seen in the US media.
http://www.horncastlenews.co.uk/news/39My-incredible-adventure-in-colombia39.4123336.jp
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/7192
US jobs going to Colombia has already been proven. Owens-Illinois closed its Godfrey plants putting many people out of jobs and moving operations to Colombia.
As for Colombia being a great ally of the USA, well, drugs have not decreased and as many places report the only ally thing they have done is be the only South American country to agree with Bush about invading Iraq. As for being our friend, that is highly debatable. As noted we lowered duties on many of the things they ship to us. They don’t need an FTA to lower their tariffs on American goods, they can just do it. But they don’t. When it came time to purchase 25 new warplanes it was not an American company that got the contract, but an Isralei one.
http://merchav-aviri.org/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=125&Itemid=30
The US, through plan Colombia ($5 billion in taxpayer money) has helped them with much military equipment, but now when it comes time for them to purchase with their money they are going to Russia according to the Russian news.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080527/108540364.html
As for those arguing that the whole thing has to do with oil, they may have a point. Many have stated that the recent FTA with Peru gave oil companies more rights than either the people of Peru or the USA. And here is an interesting article about Colombian oil and the US politics. http://www.commondreams.org/views/050500-103.htm
And indeed McCain clams that the FTA may increase sales to Colombia by $1 Billion. However the FTA with Viet Nam did that, but they sent us 10 times as much creating a trade imbalance and taking many American jobs. Bush recently said that the FTA would help sell more Harley Davidson motorcycles to Colombia. Since more than 55% of the population of the country lives below the poverty level and minimum wage is $249 a month and Korean and Japanese motorcycles are sold extremely cheap in the country I questioned if anyone would buy the Harley’s. One Colombian told me yes, they would probably easily sell 1,000 to 2,000. I asked who would buy them. A smile came to his face and he said, “just the drug lords who can afford them.”
McCain is showing not only a lack of concern for the working man who has made the USA great, he is showing a complete lack of common sense.