Opinion: You Weren’t Fired You Were Outsourced

June 27, 2012 4:05 PM

A closed factory in a working class neighborhood (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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Which would sound better to you if you lost your job to a low wage worker:

“You are fired, the work you have been doing has been offshored” or “You are fired, the work you have been doing has been outsourced.”

Of course neither sound good.

My family’s roots are in western Pennsylvania. When steel jobs left, people didn’t feel good. When manufacturing jobs left, communities suffered.

But Mitt Romney thinks that you should feel fine about having your job outsourced. He thinks it is great for America.

His campaign has gone through contortions in the past week to try to draw a distinction between people that lost jobs through outsourcing and people that lost their jobs because of offshoring.

I guess the residents of Gaffney, South Carolina, that lost their jobs when Bain Capital sent them overseas should feel a little prouder this July 4.

Here is the basic problem with Mitt Romney, his economic theory boils down to the following: if you make $18.00 an hour you make too much money, if you make 18 million dollars the government takes too much of your money.

This belief system is responsible for the disappearing middle class and it is a belief system that is anathema to being President of the United States.

Outsourcing is a word that strikes fear in workers. If you have not lost your job to outsourcing, it is likely that you have a family member or friend who has.

On the flip side of the job destruction, Mitt Romney made millions outsourcing jobs at Bain Capital.

Mitt Romney famously said he likes firing people. It may be the single most honest moment he has had with the American electorate during this election.

His love of outsourcing was not limited to the private sector. When he was Governor of Massachusetts he sent call center jobs overseas. So if you were a taxpayer in Massachusetts and lost your job, you called an overseas call center to find out how to get assistance.

If that is not the stupidest idea you have heard today, I’d love to know what is dumber.

This message is getting across.

President Obama and Governor Romney continue to poll close nationally. But when you look at the swing states where Obama and Romney are engaging voters, Obama is winning and Romney’s negatives are higher.

Why? Because in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Iowa families have been living in fear of the Mitt Romneys of the world for decades. It is a fear that has been passed down from one generation to another.

They know that outsourcing is devastating to families. They know that outsourcing kills communities.

It is toxic capitalism. It’s the easy way to make a fast buck. And it is no preparation for the Presidency. The American Presidency is not about racking up big bonuses by slashing workers standard of living.

As Mitt Romney’s bus rolls through the heartland, inevitably it passes the homes of people in dying towns devastated by shuttered factories where people know firsthand that outsourcing the jobs of middle class Americans destroys the fabric of America.

This election will be about the economy and it is why Mitt Romney will lose, because America cannot afford Mitt Romney’s outsourcing.

About Bill Buck

Bill Buck is a Democratic strategist, President of the Buck Communications Group, a media relations and new media strategies consulting business based in Washington, DC, and Managing Director of the online ad firm Influence DSP. He has over twenty years of international and national communications experience. The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CBS Local.

Opinion: You Werent Fired You Were Outsourced

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