OUTSOURCING

By now, the presidential election will have been decided. Much was made of outsourcing during the campaign. Candidate Kerry suggested that the outsourcing of American jobs to workers abroad should be stopped. So much is surprising-at times even mind-boggling and frightening-during campaign season, and the "issue" of outsourcing was among those. At times, it was good to know John Maynard Keynes wasn't hearing this stuff. Outsourcing suddenly became an issue this year because, well, who knows? We don't hear anyone complain about the outsourcing of America's energy supply, one of the most important real American issues today. The increasing dependence on foreign sources of oil and natural gas clearly flies below Americans' voting radar. Gasoline and electricity are still extremely affordable to almost all Americans, so what's the problem? So few realize that our interest in the Middle East, thus in Iraq, would be much less malignant if not for that region's control of oil supply. So few know that our foreign policy will be reshaped as we begin to import a greater amount of liquefied natural gas. So few want to consider that oil and gas are finite resources and that eventually, at our current rate of consumption, America is setting itself up to be an energy junkie, forging alliances in the name of cheap energy-at any cost. Consider the American lives lost in the Middle East. This is the ultimate cost-$5 gasoline will break pocketbooks; the loss of loved ones breaks hearts and spirits. If not for oil, and except for Israel, the region would be as important to us as Antarctica. There is a saying that "bad begets bad." Well, the usual expression is with an expletive. Still, bad American energy policy begets bad American policy-foreign and domestic. Americans' criticism of outsourcing is especially surprising. U.S. consumers, at times directly and at times indirectly, are veteran participants in Business Darwinism-the survival of the most profitable. Markets go where dynamics support profit. It's not evil. It's not mean. It's not corrupt. It's natural-who shops around for the most overpriced laptop? Hires job candidates who want more money than they're worth? Insists on buying a Peugeot? Asks Wal-Mart to please roll prices up, not back? They do complain about $2 gasoline, but pay $2 for a soft drink. Yet, no life was lost in the making of soft drinks. Of course, fuel and food are commodities, thus we value them less. Even the sweetest socialist raises hell when energy costs rise. What would it cost if the 20-plus million barrels of oil equivalent per day that the U.S. consumes had to be produced domestically? Outsourcing is how we can afford so much in America-cheap laptops, cheap cars, cheap construction materials, cheap small-business start-up costs. Great countries and economies have been built on outsourcing. The British Empire took America's raw materials and sold us tea, and made a nice margin both ways. Americans today have their underpants made abroad and give back high-priced consulting services. Another great economy today is that of-well, there aren't any other truly great economies today in comparison to that of the U.S. Weeks before the election, there was a motorist in Houston who had a "Don't Outsource America" bumper sticker on his BMW. There is an expression that comes to mind, but it's French, and I'll leave it at that. -Nissa Darbonne, Executive Editor