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June 21, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels April 9, 2004 Boomers retire while jobs are outsourced Why do employers send jobs (outsource) to other countries? The reason should be clear. If they outsource a job that an American is doing, they don't pay Social Security tax, Medicare tax, vacation pay, health care, holiday pay, overtime, and a variety of other costs associated with actually employing a person. They simply pay an hourly rate (at much less than they'd pay an American.) So, it's cost avoidance and a highly improved corporate profit line. Also, if they can associate the profits generated by outsourcing with one of their off-shore divisions, they can defer any income tax for a decade or so. This has a very nice impact on corporation profit and these guys get major bonuses for showing increased profit for short periods of time (a decade is a very long time by these standards). In effect, a handful of very rich people get even richer over the bodies of the millions of Americans who can lose their jobs due to outsourcing. The Baby Boomers - those born after World War II - are starting to retire in increasing numbers. We always knew this would be a problem because the Boomers are a large population and far fewer people were born in the decades following the Boomer spurt. These few people have always known that they will have to support the Social Security and Medicare costs for a larger population than themselves. This is a big problem but it becomes huge when this small remaining workforce is eroded by uncontrolled outsourcing of their jobs. I guess it's not legal to stop outsourcing but it seems that there are some things our federal government could do to make it far less lucrative for those greedy old boys at the top of our corporations. Every $30,000-per-year job outsourced by an employer deprives Social Security of $3,700 and Medicare of $870. What if that employer was required to pay this amount every year for each one of these jobs that is outsourced? What if the person who loses his job because of outsourcing was able to continue at half pay and full medical coverage for a period of two years? Since outsourcing also deprives our state of income tax, what if a fixed amount was paid for five years to support the schools, highways, handicapped, and general welfare? What if income tax on money earned from a foreign subsidiary had to be paid in the year the income was earned? Would those massive corporate bonuses be far less? Would more Americans workers keep their jobs? Hank Rogers Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams