‘Offshoring’ Hits Americans Hard

Re “He’ll Take Your Job and Ship It” and “Outsourcing Variations Have Some Appeal,” April 27: Atul Vashistha, Robert Lewis and others like them are true enemies of the United States. “Offshoring” is essentially a form of economic terrorism and an effective redistribution of wealth that undermines the U.S. economy and the quality of life and well-being of Americans. It also makes Americans’ sensitive data vulnerable to identity theft by terrorists and others. Offshoring is a clear threat to economic security. Shareholders should vote en masse to remove chief financial officers who advocate further offshoring, as it clearly represents a threat to all of us.

Michael Snider

Santa Monica

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Part of this country’s strength is that we not only welcome bright, motivated foreigners like Vashistha to come and prosper but that we celebrate their success even if their work ruins the lives of thousands of American families. However, though my MBA training gives me faith that globalization will leave us all better off and that the suffering of some fellow citizens is an unfortunate part of the process, I can’t help but be galled by the sense that we are having our noses rubbed in it.

John D. Blake

Costa Mesa

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Outsourcing nonproductive activities produces benefits to employers, who then are able to cut costs and can afford to hire more workers. Economics is not war and not a zero-sum game. Long-time writer and economist Henry Hazlitt taught us not to judge some economic (or political) activity without first looking at all its effects over all time. Not just the effects on one (favored) group today. He called it “Economics in One Lesson.”

But then, free markets are not very popular with established businesses, especially long-standing news outlets like The Times. Fortunately, there is the Internet, which is the outsourcing of domestic newspaper reporting jobs.

Eric Taylor

Sunland

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It was disappointing that Vashistha declined to name the 16 corporate clients his company has aided in outsourcing valuable jobs overseas. I was curious to see if the two credit cards (one of which I had retained for over a decade), one Internet service provider and one telephone company calling plan I have dropped in recent weeks because of poor service are among them.

Language problems and lack of knowledge about products and services are disadvantages too frustrating to deal with, not to mention the “rubs-me-the-wrong-way” emotion I feel when I realize I am dealing with a company that has moved its customer-service base abroad.

Peggy Luckett

Long Beach