Tuesday, December 13, 2011

U.S. Senator: Keep creating those jobs in Asia

'Gotta keep creating jobs in China!'
This silly op-ed written by a member of Wyoming Sen. John Barasso's staff just jumped out at us. It's the old "regulation hurts job creation" nonsense. Predatory CEOs are pushing it because they want to keep on plundering American workers.

What we loved about the piece was "Barasso" citing Steve Jobs and Jamie Dimon as "job creators:"
From our newest entrepreneurs to titans of industry like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Steve Jobs, America’s job creators have made it clear that the president’s policies are making it harder and more expensive to hire workers. (Just wondering: Does Barrasso or his staffer know that Steve Jobs, um, died?) 
Here's where Apple creates jobs: Asia. Hundreds of thousands of workers -- including child laborers -- make iPods, iPads and iPhones in FoxConn's silicon sweatshops. In China. There are fewer American workers making computers today than there were when the first personal computer was put together in 1975.

JP Morgan, like most big banks, isn't doing such a great job of creating jobs for Americans either. It's sitting on its assets. When it does create jobs, it looks to India. As ABC News reported in 2009,
Michele Brown ... lives in hard-hit Florida, spent 20 years in the real estate business and recently had her days as a nanny cut back after her boss had his own hours reduced. 
But nothing prepared her for what happened one day when she called a toll-free line to inquire about her food stamps. 
"The woman who answered the phone -- it's not like she wasn't nice or anything -- but it was kind of evident that she wasn't in the States," Brown said. 
It turns out the woman was at a JP Morgan Chase call center in India.
This is what creates jobs, according to Nick Hanauer, founder of aQuantive:
...a healthy economic ecosystem surrounding the company, which starts with the company's customers. 
The company's customers buy the company's products, which, in turn, creates the need for the employees to produce, sell, and service those products. If those customers go broke, the demand for the company's products will collapse. And the jobs will disappear, regardless of what the entrepreneur does.