drawstrong Wrote: You guys realize he doesn't mean offshore drilling right? read the post.
Anyways, tariffs, taxes, and such should be placed to raise revenue and discourage it my opinion
I believe that "offshoring" or outsourcing manufacturing to other countries is a major threat to the security of the United States. We don't make much of anything here anymore. There are two serious problems with this. Some things that are absolutely necessary to our lifestyles and security are not made here anymore--they are made "offshore". One serious example is electrical transformers that are used in substations and power plants. These are made in China. If we had a major burnout of electrical equipment (caused by a natural disaster, for instance), we would have to rely on the Chinese sending us the equipment necessary to make repairs. The Chinese could just as easily decide to base their decision to send the equipment on whether or not the dollar is devalued, some relationship or treaties with certain allies are broken, or the like. The US government could be held hostage. What a nightmare that could become. The government could easily be manipulated by any foreign power that now manufactures our necessities of life.
The other problem is that the people of the United States allowed whole factories and their equipment to be uprooted and transplanted to "offshore" locales. We allowed the "brain trust" of the manufacturing industry, the employees, to be laid off and discarded like so much rubbish, so the majority of the people who used to know how things are made are gone. We have no manufacturing infrastructure anymore. If we suddenly needed to gear up to prepare for any type of national emergency, we'd be SOL. Our national emergency might be deemed of little importance by the foreign governments who now have control over plants and equipment that were essentially funded by American taxpayers. We could be hit by outrageous prices for needed goods or outright refusals to help at all.
"Offshoring" of technology is also a threat. Identity theft, piracy and other problems are only the tip of the iceberg. I recently heard of computer chips that are manufactured offshore being deliberately tampered with so that when they are installed in equipment here they plant viruses, steal information, and cause other problems (possible interference with power grids, power plants, theft of money from banks, and other problems).
"Offshoring" is dangerous. We need strong measures to discourage it. It is not just a matter of people keeping their jobs, it is a matter of national security.