At the close of part 1 , I posed the question "Why is outsourcing happening from the U.S. to other nations instead of moving the other way... to American workers?" It's an interesting question, and I can imagine some of the answers that might come to your mind:

Greedy companies always look for cheaper labor at the expense of American workers?

Foreigners are poor and willing to work for less?

American workers are spoiled and won't work for low wages?

Remember, we're talking about skilled jobs that are being outsourced, not grunt work. These are jobs that require some education, some specialized training, and demanding mental activity. These are good jobs... jobs that would be good to keep in the U.S. Why can't American workers compete with their foreign competitors?

Consider this carefully - think about  the cost of being an American worker.

We pay close to half of our earnings to our various levels of government, and that's in addition to all the taxes hidden in the cost of products we buy. Everything we buy is loaded with taxes and prices are again raised by the high level of government regulation on every aspect of production. If you're an American worker, you're supporting an enormous load that you didn't buy into... and that affects the price you must charge for your services, in order to keep from going bankrupt.

Let me count just some of the ways... just to get to work, we pay for the privilege of driving our own cars. The cars themselves are expensive because of taxes and severe regulation. We also subsidize buses (and now light rail) so that even poorer people can get to work. We're forced to pay for license tabs for our cars, and, in Minnesota, we're forced to carry insurance too. We pay taxes in every gallon of gas, and we pay even more where ethanol is subsidized. We pay for the roads and streets on which we drive, and complain constantly that there aren't enough of them and traffic jams take a lot of our time, and waste the gasoline we paid for.

We have to have some place to sleep when we're not working, and housing isn't cheap for American workers. There are so many regulations on housing that the minimum possible cost has been forced up. Property taxes add to the cost of both houses and apartments. Here in the Twin Cities, I dare say it's difficult to find even a small apartment for less than $600/month. Finding a house for under $100,000 is equally difficult. Every year, our local governments tear down more affordable housing in the name of redevelopment of "blighted" areas, so the minimum housing cost rises more.

Each American worker helps support the most massive and wasteful government this planet has ever seen... the most expensive education system, that still doesn't work well, massive welfare programs that trap poor people in relative poverty, and on and on and on. There are about 181 million American workers, and the total cost attributable to "National Defense"... military, anti-terrorism, etc. calculates out to $4,168 for each of those workers.

Is it any wonder that American workers are not competitive with workers in other nations?

American workers are good workers... smart, hard-working, and honest. We're known for our creativity and ingeniousness... or at least we used to be. Outsourcing,  and companies moving abroad, and whole industries failing to foreign competition are going to continue, and get worse, as long as we have to carry our huge government on our backs.

Our government... OUR government. We ARE responsible for it, and we are the only ones who can bring it to heel. It is supposed to be our servant. We're guilty of asking it to do many things we should have been willing to do for ourselves, and we're guilty of allowing it to expand so far beyond its useful and constitutional limits that it is now ignoring us, and growing by leaps and bounds all by itself.

As long as Americans continue to vote for either of the two ruling parties, the problems will most certainly continue to get worse, until it all comes crashing down around us. I talk regularly to people who have been amazed to find themselves being victimized by their own government. They thought they were safe... they ignored warnings until it struck them personally. I can count on those people to never let down their guard again, so they're not the problem.

The American people are not the problem, except that many still think of government as their savior, as their benevolent keeper. That's what major party politicians WANT you to think... that we would be helpless without government. The simple fact is that the opposite is true; we were once a great nation with a small government... as government has grown, we have deteriorated. It will continue until we all stand up and demand a reversal of that trend. The incumbent parties are destroying our nation, and at an ever-increasing rate.