Our Security And Prosperity by Alan Tonelson (NAPSA)—The dramatically quickening flight overseas of hightech and professional jobs represents the ultimate betrayal of American workers by current U.S. trade and globalization policies. At risk are Americans’ future livelihoods, our country’s world technological leadership, and thus our national security. During the 1990s tech boom, globaliza- tion supporters con- fidently made a promise to Americans: If they seized new opportunities to retrain and re-skill themselves, they could stay ahead of global competition and easily move from vanishing smokestack manufacturing to the better paying “industries of the future.” Yet in the next decade, literally millions of jobs in fields ranging from software engineering to financial analysis to accounting and even government record processing are likely to move to lowwage countries like India. And the technological know-how to make the world’s most advanced products—including weapons—will move with them. Even during the tech boom, the globalizers’ promise rang hollow. For example, though growing rapidly, the total numberof technology and professional jobs remained meager. And existing retraining programs had a dismal record. The globalizing of the choicest occupations, however, shows that even overcoming these obstacles won’t bring economic security. It also discourages young Americans from studying science and technology andrefilling our national talent pool. High-tech and professional job flight is often defended as a natural outcome of economic evolution. Yet it usually stems from specific U.S. trade policies that encourage American companies to supply the U.S. market from penny-wage labor countries. Indeed, once blue-collar manufacturing production work wasoffshored during 1980s and 1990s, manufacturing’s white-collar jobs were sure to follow once technology permitted. After all, why keep these functions thousands of miles apart? Numerous service providers can duplicate this business model, too. But if trade policies have promoted these practices, then trade policies can end them. Washington must encourage U.S. manufacturing and service companies to supply the U.S. market from facilities at home. Our technology future and all its economic and security benefits can only be Made in America. Mr. Tonelson is a Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation, and author of the recent globalization study, The Race to the Bottom.
