The evil "outsourcing" monster rises again

Some Illinois congressman strutted out a refrigerator on the floor of the House of Representatives tonight and began bellowing gas about the evils of outsourcing. As usual, he used emotion and a shallow argument, not sound economic reasoning by sound economists. Three excellent articles (1, 2, 3) from the mises.org site reveal that the outsourcing monster isn't quite what the typical politician makes it out to be.

After all, shouldn't I be free to build my factory anywhere in the world I want, as long as I purchase the land and obey that particular country's laws? And for whatever reason I want? Or should I be forced to stay in the U.S. and pay for possibly more expensive land and possibly higher labor costs?

I wonder how horrible he would have made it sound if that Illinois plant had re-opened in Texas? Would he then speak of the evils of those rotten Texans, who "stole" jobs from Illinois citizens? Probably not.

Lou Dobbs is a windbag

CNN's Lou Dobbs loves to stir up our emotions, using fear every night to get us all worked up about outsourcing, broken borders, terrorists, etc. It's too bad he doesn't understand the fundamentals of economics, and he has no critical thinking skills. God forbid he does a little research; he's simply a shill for unions.

Here's a nice little article from economist Mark Thornton about Dobbs and outsourcing. More posts and articles to follow on the myths surrounding the supposed damage done to our country by companies saving millions building factories overseas.