It is very interesting article touching to-days situation. As for as being American, I remember my Dad used to dream, when we three brothers were children, of sending all of us to America. It was around 60 years back. Even though my both parents were school Principals earning just reasonable salary. He had American dream and wanted all of us to settle in America. His dream was full filled when both of my brothers migrated to U.S around 40 years back and settled there, I did to go as I decided to remain in India to take care of my parents. That was the image of America in those old days.To-day I do not regret my decision.

Now coming to the point of relocating yourself, money is like magnet it will pull the people from any corner of the world. If there is job shortages in America then people will have to shift themselves around the world.

Finally all of you are welcome to great country that is India.

Suresh Sharma.

I do not see a problem with US companies outsourcing to get much cheaper labor sacrificing some product quality to provide mediocre to low quality products for mass consumption, as long as we are talking about production of simple items. The outsourcing of skilled technological jobs has the impact of sacrificing our own security. We end up teaching a man to develop the technologies to deliver nuclear weapons to our front door, rather than giving it to him. I know teaching a man to fish is better generally than catching fish for him, but i am not sure this applies the same to the technologies we'd use in ICBMs, nuclear weapons, guidances systems, etc.. If we restrict such activities by Boeing, why not by IBM. Boeing and Lockheeds, and such just make airplanes which are easy to shoot down. I also perceive that this kind of outsourcing is a good example of how free trade agreements do not appear to be working the way the Clinton's and subsequent politicians had promised. Additionally, outsourcing leads to a few more poorly educated jobs in sales and management, we end up sending out for the truly skilled labor, this just leads to a dumbing of our work force, which then means more outsourcing (but this time because of a labor need not executive greed). I personally do not see a problem with establishing tariffs for products designed and manaufactured in other countries. When the government used to collect tarriffs the budget was always in great shape. Also, our government shouold get involved in aiding its public in enforcing patentns and itnellectual properties rights against foreign companies, and maybe rethink the way we assign patent rights (do not allow corporations to hold a patent, but only those persons who can demonstrate an active technical involvement in the development of the item). Promote intellectual creativity toward advancement, do not just outsource to the cheapest labor sources trying to produce something that will just be good enough to comply with Walmart's standards.

I am with you on the teaching a man to fish perspective. I learned at an early age that some of my peers did not need to know how to make black powder. Had a ton of fun with model rockets and other physics experiments. My older brother was making his own solid rocket fuel and burnt his hands quite badly. I try to err on the side of caution. [ Make no mistake - I do } Wasn't it Heinlein who said something about money-vs-heart. "appeal to his sense of fair play" Tariffs, Yes ! Yay !

America used to be the land of Opportunity. Opportunity implies that if you are willing to sacrifice, work/study hard, and save a portion of your wages you might be able to live a comfortable (not wealthy) lifestyle.

That may or may not be still the case here since the greed of the unscrupulous coupled with the unwillingness of the political arm of the government to provide for a moral society has resulted in entitlements to the point where it is often (not always) better to be on the dole than to work.

If entitlement mentality were eliminated, much of this would reverse. Quite frankly, I dont see this happening in my lifetime if ever. In the background I here Prez. Obama on the TV discussing the future of GM. While I have some investments in GM, I would personally have rather seen them fail than that they receive "bailouts" with "new" money printed to stimulate then and save jobs. The new money dilutes the buying power of the dollar.

I wonder whether the only way to sort those things out would be for a return to the gold standard. The switch to silver certificates and later the Federal Reserve Note was the beginning of the end for the economy of the USA as the government isnt required to have any collateral to back up the value of the Note. I heard a comment the other day which says it all: "Since the government prints money any time they want to, why do we need to pay taxes?" After all let them print the tax money.