In Defense of Sen. Webb's Economic Assessment

I believe readers who share Sen. Jim Webb's concern with the real state of the American middle class will find this recent article by economist Paul Craig Roberts of interest.

Readers of this blog know that my own direct experiences in the labor force support Dr. Roberts’ arguments.

I grew up in a household in which my parents believed as Jim Webb’s father: that with hard work, education and some intelligence, a person could essentially achieve anything.

However, my experiences in the labor market call this belief into sharp question.

I have “retrained” – done as the globalist free traders insisted in the 90s after NAFTA and today as they push new trade deals. I remade myself into an "information technology professional" -- a technical writer, software tester, software engineer and database administrator. I did this with a lot of support from my wife at considerable personal and financial cost. The time and money devoted to this endeavor was significant.

Now, after more than a decade of IT work, I face the continuous, even mounting threat of replacement with imported “guest workers” and job loss to offshore outsourcing.

In order to be hired into my present job, I “low-balled” my salary requirements knowing that the large numbers of (1)foreign guest workers ("H-1bs") and (2)unemployed American IT workers made competition for scarce IT jobs fierce.

In short, like millions of other Americans, in and out of IT jobs, I face declining job security, a constant or growing workload, and earn a salary sharply reduced from industy norms of just a few years ago.

Is this the “American dream” of middle class life? I think NOT!!

Read what Dr. Paul Craig Roberts has to say in "Economists In Denial; Blind To Offshoring's Adverse Impact" at http://www.manufacturingnews.com/news/07/0206/art2.html