 |
 |
| How out of touch can a politician be? Every now and again you see a story that makes you wonder how politicians can be so out of touch as to quite literally insult their constituents and hard working Americans. One of those days is today, with this Associated Press story about my U.S. Senator, Max Baucus (D). The headline says it all: "U.S. Senator Supports Outsourcing to India" - and the story is everywhere on the wires. What a pathetic message for a Democratic Party that claims to want to win votes in blue-collar America. Baucus represents Montana, a state with the fifth lowest wages in America. And yet somehow, he thinks it's a great idea to take a lavish trip over to India, and give a speech lauding the elimination of good paying jobs in America. Almost like a corporate-programmed automaton, Baucus obediently spews the language of Tom Friedman, saying "The world is flat...Offshoring is a fact of globalization." Seriously folks - how out of touch can a polit ician get? How out of touch do you have to be to represent a working class state struggling to raise its wages and then go over to India to trumpet the elimination of good paying jobs? What is particularly disturbing is how Baucus justifies his support for eliminating U.S. jobs. As the AP notes, he "cited the prosperity that outsourcing has brought to Bangalore, India's technology hub." Remember, this is a guy elected by Americans to serve Americans. And yet, he is traveling abroad saying that American jobs should be eliminated, totally ignoring the damage outsourcing does to America. As just one example, University of California researchers estimate that if politicians like Baucus continue successfully pushing corporate-written trade deals that sell America out, our country could lose up to 14 million good paying jobs. Also ridiculous is the timing of Baucus's call to elimina te good paying, white collar jobs in America. You may recall it was Baucus who, less than two months ago, was running around Montana bragging how he had brought 800, $9-per-hour call center jobs to Missoula. Baucus made sure to let everyone know how important he thought those jobs were. Yet now, two months later, he has headed to India to trumpet the elimination of exactly those kind of jobs as somehow helpful to America. Remember, Max Baucus is the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee - the panel that oversees trade policy. While Democrats laced into President Bush for endorsing outsourcing two years ago, the AP story today notes that "Baucus said a majority of fellow Senate Democrats agreed with him" in endorsing outsourcing. And yet the party somehow wonders why it consistently loses in blue-colla r America. |
Democratic Victory Network An Umbrella Group: Of Progressive Groups
Brought To You By: Philter Media - New Possibilities With Your Web Presence http://PhilterMedia.com
No comments:
Post a Comment