One of the issues both campaigns are making hay over is international trade and using trade deals to 'bring back jobs to America' and at the same time fight the idea of 'globalization'. Having worked in an offshoring environment for several years, I don't think either party has a fucking clue and can't really do anything practical that'll bring any jobs back. And globalization isn't some frame of mind or economic theory. Globalization is the simple fact that many emerging countries, like those in Asia and South America and Mexico, have invested in creating an educated work force that will work for wages that are a fourth of what Americans are paid. How does America plan to tell any American company that has to compete globally with other companies that they cannot access those workers?
The sole driver of all job offshoring projects is labor costs. Period. Its not some evil master plan nor is it driven by any beliefs that one worker is more productive, more highly skilled, or unionized or not. Its driven by stockholders that vote with their feet when companies don't have ever improving EBITDA. And there is no protectionist policy that will prevent it from happening.
Now, this doesn't mean I agree that offshoring is the answer to everything, in fact I think we'll companies ebb and flow with their offshore workforces as they try to find the best mix. Offshore = BAD customer service and somewhere, somebody will figure out how to make an offshore backoffice work while providing a semblence of service with someone not named Ralph with an
East indian accent over the phone. But that is an evolutionary force in business and is hardly ever planned with any intelligence.
Anyway, the whole trade issue in this campaign is a giant red herring IMO. There are no t's and c's in a trade agreement that can overcome the simple economics of cheap labor. The only thing that will bring those jobs back are those company's customers and stockholders. And it looks like they will vote one way at the ballot box and the other way at the bank or store.
BKB