Robert Oak's blog

Pickin' The Bones of Election 2010

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political graveyard We now have various analysts pickin' the bones on election 2010, many trying to justify some political position or cause. This site already had it's say and proclaimed it was about jobs. What say others?

Public Citizen says Democrats who had strong positions on reforming trade agreements and policy won and those who didn't lost.

House Democrats that ran on fair trade platforms in competitive and open-seat races were three times as likely to survive the GOP tidal wave than Democrats who ran against fair trade, according to a comprehensive 182-race, 70-page report released by Public Citizen. The GOP tsunami obliterated many candidate-specific features of the midterm contests, but trade, job offshoring and/or government purchases of foreign-made goods were a stunningly persistent national focus of midterm election campaigns, with 205 candidates campaigning on these issues. A record number of 75 Republicans adopted some fair trade messaging as well, 43 of whom won their races. More than sixty races became “fair trade offs,” where both the Democrat and Republican ran on fair trade themes. Only 37 candidates campaigned in favor of more North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)-style trade agreements - about half of these candidates lost.

A "Decisive Defeat" But Is Anyone Winning?

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On the eve of Election 2010, most pollsters and pundits are predicting a decisive defeat for Democrats with most claiming this is a referendum of the Obama administration. But, what, exactly does this vote mean for the economy and U.S. middle class?

Reading the tea leaves, pun intended, one must wonder how the media can be so disconnected with what is really going on in America.

What are people so pissed about? Is it bi-partisanship, Obamacare, the Stimulus, taxes? Is it elected officials are not liberal, moderate, conservative, work across the aisle enough?

All of that is wrong.

As a site which has daily written about the United States economy, I can definitely say it's about jobs.

Wall Street got a bail out and bonuses, Americans got laid off and made poor. Special interests and even China got Stimulus, Americans got more jobs offshore outsourced and foreclosed upon. High frequency traders made billions, regular Americans lost their meager retirement.

Now there is pressure for Obama to shed himself of his advisers.

Among the complaints: Mr. Obama conveyed an incoherent message that didn't express what Democrats would do over the next two years if they retain power; he focused more on his own image than helping Democratic candidates; and the White House picked the wrong battle when it attacked Republicans for using "outside" money to pay for campaigns, an issue disconnected from voters' real-world anxieties.

Indian Offshore Outsourcers Start Propaganda Campaign, Funding Elections to Get Your Job

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the tokensIn a backdrop of election 2010, we have more spin. NASSCOM, the India offshore outsourcing industry is starting a media and public relations campaign to get your job.

India’s top tech firms, along with Nasscom, are lobbying harder on Capitol Hill and are set to launch a public campaign on hiring more local staff in the US as political rhetoric against offshoring of IT and back office jobs reaches an all-time high ahead of the US November elections.

Hiring Americans is not what they will do in reality. Instead they will contract or hire a few token Americans to point to as evidence they are not committing global labor arbitrage. Labor arbitrage, or squeezing workers for profits, is the entire business model of these Indian body shops.

These same offshorers are buying our elections and controlling our Congress.

Bangalore-based Wipro spent $33,000 as lobbying costs in Q2 this year in the US. Chennai-based Cognizant has spent a whopping $320,000 in lobbying this year.

Now guess which party is completely in their pockets? Republicans.

Some of the intense lobbying and other initiatives are already bearing fruit. Last month senate Republicans defeated a bill aimed at taxing American multinationals moving services and manufacturing jobs to cheaper overseas locations such as China and India.

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