Outsourcing: It’s best to leave corporations alone

All that folderol about companies “outsourcing” jobs — having them done in countries where labor is cheaper — is nothing but a combination of short-sightedness and political sophistry.

As has been mentioned in this space before, there is “insourcing,” too. Insourcing is when foreign countries have work done in this country. You don’t hear anyone complaining about that. For example, the Mexican firm Gruma has a Goldsboro plant.

The government mustn’t interfere with a company’s decision to outsource, unless national security is somehow involved.

Not surprisingly, that view is shared by the mother of all civil-liberties organizations, the Ayn Rand Institute.

The institute, based in California, is a so-called think tank that extols the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author and philosopher. Miss Rand, who escaped Communist Russia with her family in the 1920s, came to American and devoted her life to promoting individual rights and a free economy. She wrote such novels as “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”

You won’t always agree with the Ayn Rand Institute, but it is always worth consulting on such matters as government interference. Hence, a few comments from David Holcberg, a researcher at the institute:

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“The widespread condemnation of American companies for outsourcing their operations has no legitimate moral basis. American companies have the moral right to cut their costs and maximize their profits by doing business with anyone anywhere on earth (excluding, of course, people or businesses in countries that threaten or are at war with America).

“The claim that outsourcing jobs hurts Americans misses the big picture. If companies that need to outsource to be competitive won’t do it, they won’t remain in business for long, and thus won’t be able to offer Americans any jobs. Moreover, while true that Americans who would have taken the outsourced jobs will have to look for work elsewhere, the fact is that all American consumers benefit from the lower production costs and prices that result from outsourcing.

“Just as Americans are right to shop for the best deals, American companies are right to shop for the best hires. And just as Americans have no moral obligation to buy American goods, American companies have no moral obligation to employ American workers.”

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In other words, let the free captalist system take its course. That doesn’t always play well politically but, in the long run, it benefits everyone.

Published in Editorials on April 5, 2004 11:25 AM