Let’s Talk About Outsourcing
Let’s Talk About Outsourcing
by Phyllis Schlafly
July 18, 2012
Among President Obama’s disingenuous promises made over his four years, he said he would focus on creating “jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.” Yet he spent billions of U.S. taxpayer’s money overseas to create outsourced jobs.
Typical of Obama’s passion for outsourcing was the appointment of his Jobs Czar, Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric. Even as he was basking in the prestige of his new title, Immelt was closing his last U.S. plant making light bulbs in Virginia and opening a plant in China to manufacture more expensive light bulbs that Americans will be forced to buy.
General Electric also opened a $61 million factory in Vietnam to produce wind turbine components. General Electric and the President’s Jobs Council, headed by Immelt, have received over $1.2 billion in Stimulus funds.
General Electric placed an order with wind turbine manufacturer ATI Casting, but then canceled it in order to get the parts cheaper from China. ATI offered to match the Chinese price, but GE refused to reinstate its order to the U.S. company, so ATI was forced to lay off 302 American workers.
Obama also promised in October 2008 that he would “invest $15 billion a year in renewable energy sources to create 5 million new energy jobs over the next decade — jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.” Obama painted the picture of a future in which Americans will build solar panels, wind turbines and a new electricity grid.
It all sounded so exciting. Obama predicted a future where his Stimulus-created jobs would help us “eliminate” Middle East oil within ten years and “help save the planet in the bargain.” How could we resist his assurance that going into massive debt would reap such a glorious reward!
Proclaiming that his goal was to put one million electric cars on the road by 2015, Obama set up a $2.4 billion Stimulus program to support battery production. But nearly half that money went to foreign firms, including two South Korean companies that used their grants to hire foreign nationals in Michigan to do work that Americans could have done.
We surely don’t see many electric cars on the road. After receiving a $500 million U.S. loan guarantee, Fisker Automotive is producing its $100,000 luxury electric sports car in Finland.
Obama’s Stimulus included $8.5 billion in grants for wind farms, and more than half of that money blew overseas, either to foreign developers or to foreign wind turbine manufacturers. Our money created thousands of jobs overseas while the U.S. wind energy industry lost 10,000 jobs last year.
The largest recipient of Obama’s program to promote green energy projects was the Spanish Company Abengoa, which received $2.7 billion in loan guarantees for three of its projects. That’s even more than the half billion dollars Obama squandered on Solyndra and another $400 million wasted on Abound Solar, two U.S. companies that went bankrupt after receiving those multi-million-dollar taxpayer loan guarantees.
Two Korean manufacturers of electric vehicle batteries were given $300 million to build plants in Michigan, but foreign nationals are being brought in to work the jobs that should go to Americans. The Department of Energy admits that 11 of the 18 contractors are Asian firms.
North Carolina-based LED maker Cree Inc. received over $39 million from Obama’s Stimulus, then opened a plant in China. Half of this company’s employees are now located in China.
The Windy Flats project received a $218 million Stimulus grant and then used wind turbines assembled by Siemens in Denmark. The Danish company, Haldor Topsoe, received a $25 million Stimulus grant to construct a demonstration scale biorefinery.
SunPower admits that some of the solar panels for the $1.3 Billion Stimulus-backed California Solar Valley Ranch will be manufactured in Mexico, not in California. ABB Inc. received over $16 million in Stimulus funds to create green energy manufacturing jobs, but then laid off its U.S. workers and transferred the work to Mexico.
An $817,000 Stimulus contract was awarded to New Zealand’s Connexionz to install bus monitors in the California city of Santa Clarita. The EPA gave $1.5 million to Indonesia to reduce air pollution in Jakarta.
Parago used Stimulus funds to hire hundreds of workers in El Salvador and the Dominican Republic to administer a renewable energy appliance rebate program. Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal’s subsidiary received $31.5 million in Stimulus funds for a waste heat recovery unit.
A Japanese subsidiary, Eurus Energy, received $91.4 million in Stimulus grants for a wind farm using 180 turbines manufactured overseas by Mitsubishi. Solar Power Industries received a $5.4 million Stimulus grant and then, because of increased reliance on imports from China, laid off U.S. workers.
Do you remember how we the taxpayers were forced to bail out General Motors? GM then opened a $200 million plant in Thailand to make Diesel engines for the Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck.
