Who Really Has the Outsourcing Problem?

Among President Obama’s disingenuous promises made over his four years, he said he would focus on creating “jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.” Yet he spent billions of U.S. taxpayer’s money overseas to create outsourced jobs.

Typical of Obama’s passion for outsourcing was the appointment of his Jobs Czar, Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric. Even as he was basking in the prestige of his new title, Immelt was closing his last U.S. plant making light bulbs in Virginia and opening a plant in China to manufacture more expensive light bulbs that Americans will be forced to buy.

General Electric also opened a $61 million factory in Vietnam to produce wind turbine components. General Electric and the President’s Jobs Council, headed by Immelt, have received over $1.2 billion in Stimulus funds.

General Electric placed an order with wind turbine manufacturer ATI Casting, but then canceled it in order to get the parts cheaper from China. ATI offered to match the Chinese price, but GE refused to reinstate its order to the U.S. company, so ATI was forced to lay off 302 American workers.

Obama also promised in October 2008 that he would “invest $15 billion a year in renewable energy sources to create 5 million new energy jobs over the next decade — jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced.” Obama painted the picture of a future in which Americans will build solar panels, wind turbines and a new electricity grid.

It all sounded so exciting. Obama predicted a future where his Stimulus-created jobs would help us “eliminate” Middle East oil within ten years and “help save the planet in the bargain.” How could we resist his assurance that going into massive debt would reap such a glorious reward!

Proclaiming that his goal was to put one million electric cars on the road by 2015, Obama set up a $2.4 billion Stimulus program to support battery production. But nearly half that money went to foreign firms, including two South Korean companies that used their grants to hire foreign nationals in Michigan to do work that Americans could have done.

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