There are some fundamental principles which managers and economists follow for better effectiveness. One of them is: “Cure the cause, not the symptoms.” After reading Barack Obama’s recent comment, I wonder when he would understand it.
I have to protect American jobs: Obama on outsourcing
President Barack Obama indicated that he was unlikely to accommodate India’s concerns about his policy of discouraging outsourcing of US jobs, saying it was his responsibility to support jobs and opportunity for the American people. Obama has recently spoken against outsourcing of American jobs to countries like India and offered tax breaks for those creating jobs in the US.
https://www.ndtv.com/article/india/i-have-to-protect-american-jobs-obama-on-outsourcing-64306 (Nov 3, 2010)
I strongly believe that a dearth of jobs in an economy is a symptom rather than a cause. It is a symptom indicating towards some rot beneath a decently looking economy. It should ideally make one re-look at one’s economic model and at some fundamental review of policies; rather than trying some popular gimmicks like tax-breaks or subsidies. After following Obama’s speeches and policies from before his election, I have always felt he is more bent towards taking popular decisions rather than the right but difficult ones. Whenever Obama compares American education system with India’s, I think about our basic literacy rate and brain-drain and shrug off his worries. When he talks about concerns for American companies and Indian IT, I just compare the size of IBM ($103.6 billion in 2009) with that of India’s biggest TCS ($6.5 billion in 2010) and laugh at his contention. India has more number of jobs because Indians do jobs on the lower value chain, at cheapest rates; which not many Americans would choose to do. And if you force such jobs back to the US at those high salaries, American companies would become uncompetitive. So why should there be all this hype? I think Obama has his priorities wrong. Instead of saying, “I have to protect American Jobs”, he should think, “I have to prosper American Economy.” And he should remember the basics: free movement of human resources is key to achieve that economic development in today’s knowledge based economy. Just imagine one Indian-born PhD making a Patent for one American company – it would sustain so many other jobs both in the US and in other parts of the world – for years.
Sometimes I feel Indians have a better choice of their leader. Dr. Manmohan Singh may be modest in his oratory skills, but he is an economist who understands things much better. Mr. Obama is a great orator, but he is a politician having a degree in law. As we know, economies run neither by oratory nor by myopic populist decisions. These turbulent years would decide the fate of both the US and India and I only wish the US would be in the right hands.
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