During State of the Union Address, Our President Recommends My Jobs Idea from July, 2010

During tonight's State of the Union, our President proposed an idea I recommended on July 5, 2010.

From my archives:
At lunch today, my husband and I discussed ideas to increase Jobs for Americans. We came up with an idea and want to pass it on to President Obama. We call it "The Jobs for Americans Plan." I am advertising this plan here, on Daily Kos and on Facebook. I sent this to the President via his White House website.

Both my husband and I worked for Fortune 500 companies. We know and understand that a number of companies outsource many jobs offshore. These are jobs many Americans, especially middle class Americans want. These are jobs that, when they were outsourced off-shore, meant lay-offs for hard-working Americans. Business says they outsource to save money. Offshore, they are not required to pay employees at the same rate. Offshore, they are not required to maintain OSHA sanctioned, safe environments. Offshore, they are not required to adhere to union bargained contracts. Offshore, these employees do not pay U.S. income taxes, nor are companies required to pay social security taxes or unemployment premiums based on payroll amounts.

Types of jobs sent offshore:
. Production: physical manufacturing (primarily to China)
. IT Services: Software Engineering (primarily to India & other English speaking countries) HP, IBM, Intel, AT&T, AMD, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, SAP, BEA, etc.
. Innovation Outsourcing: to South Africa, India, Pakistan, China, Mexico, Russia, etc.
. Transfer of Intellectual Property
. Customer Service: All customer service work to English Speaking Countries (any company that provides Customer Service via phone or internet)


Our "The U.S.A. Jobs for Americans Plan & Honors Program":
1. Identify and report the rate of off-shore staffing in each U.S. based company.
(e.g.: Apple and IBM each staff 100,000 employees. Each staff 20,000 employees offshore = 20%)
2. Each company that outsources offshore is asked to reduce offshore staffing by 50% and replace those workers with US Based employees.
(e.g.: Apple and IBM are each asked to replace 10,000 of their offshore employees with 10,000 US based workers)
3. Each company that participates in the plan receives a tax reduction for each offshore employee replaced by a U.S. employee equal to 25% of each employee's compensation (fully loaded).
4. Each company fully participating in this program will receive a U.S. Honors Award to display company wide. Reports are published monthly. Participating companies may advertise that they have received this award. U.S. Citizens are encouraged to frequent U.S. Honors companies.
(e.g.: Apple fully participates in the Program. IBM does not. Apple reduces offshore jobs by 10,000; advertises and staffs 10,000 U.S. jobs; receives 25% tax cut for 10,000 employees; receives honors award; runs ads - especially during the SuperBowl that they are a U.S. Honors Award Winner. Business thrives. Employees Happy. America is working. Buying Apple products and services.
IBM does not participate; receives no incentives or tax cuts; No new ads; No award program. U.S. Honors Report shows they are not participating in the program. After 2nd year of program, decides to join it and begins hiring U.S. based employees and reducing number of employees offshore.)

Why Republicans are Blocking (Voting NO) on the Unemployment Extensions Act

Through my research, I've found out the true reason Republicans are blocking the unemployment extensions act. It is also the same reason my "USA Jobs for Americans Plan & Honors Program" will never be passed. Why? Because many politicians, especially Republicans, are in bed with Big Business and their lobbies. Before I provide you the reason, let me share with you two responses my husband and I received about our Jobs Plan. While everyone who has read the plan thinks it is a great idea, when my husband talked about it with his bowling buddies, they too agreed it was a good idea, however they said it will never happen because Big Business will never agree to it. End of story. The second response was from a very strong PRO proponent. His response said it was a wonderful idea but I was Mother Teresa and I just did not understand the treachery and greed of Big Business. End of story.
I try not to be a Pollyanna. I still have a glint of hope for America. I try to believe that some US based businesses are on the people's side. I try to believe that at least some of them want to keep jobs, the jobs Americans want, IN America. I try to believe that at least some will bring jobs back from outsourced - offshore countries.

Then, through my research, I came across one economist's view of the bill before Congress. The economist's name is Robert Oak and he wrote an article about H.R. 4213, the bill we refer to as the Unemployment Extension Act. It was originally called "American Workers, State and Business Relief Act of 2010." Today, it is called, "American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010."

If Oak is right, then Big Business, their lobbies and corrupt politicians, particularly Republicans, will NEVER vote for this bill and will do all in their power to prevent its passage. Their goal is to continue to offshore and to continue to reap massive profits in offshore banks via these loopholes. The saddest part is, my husband's friends, my PRO commenter and most Americans know this, yet refuse to address the subject or ever let this subject see the light of day. They will NOT hold these businesses or their lobbyists accountable. Instead, we allow these same zealots to control the conversation and instead blame all of our lost jobs and economic woes on those who come here to pick fruit and vegetables. What kind of sheep are we if we allow this lack of accountability to continue?
Economist Oak said:
A little observed provision (in HR4213) is to remove the tax incentives to offshore outsource your job..The legislation ties corporate revenues directly to the foreign tax credit. If passed, no longer can a corporation claim credits for foreign taxes yet park the actual profits made offshore in a low tax country. Previously corporations claimed the foreign tax credits, yet only to reduce their U.S. tax liability. The actual foreign revenues were not repatriated into the United States. If one obtains tax credits yet doesn't have to actually pay tax on profits accrued offshore, this encourages the movement of capital, assets and production overseas, including jobs.
Multinational corporations will do everything in their power to strip out these changes and so will the powerful NASSCOM, or Indian offshore outsourcing business group and their U.S. lobbying counterpart, USINPAC.
Expect war from our Benedict Arnold Tech Companies such as IBM, Microsoft and HP. IBM literally has an algorithm to manipulate global tax structures and has been firing every American who isn't nailed to their desk. HP just announced 9000 more layoffs. Their mammoth lobbying efforts are amazing because the bill extends the R&D tax credit, which greatly benefits these very same companies.

My Idea for President Obama: The U.S.A. Jobs for Americans Plan and Honors Program

At lunch today, my husband and I discussed ideas to increase Jobs for Americans. We came up with an idea and want to pass it on to President Obama. We call it "The Jobs for Americans Plan." I am advertising this plan here, on Daily Kos and on Facebook. I sent this to the President via his White House website.

Both my husband and I worked for Fortune 500 companies. We know and understand that a number of companies outsource many jobs offshore. These are jobs many Americans, especially middle class Americans want. These are jobs that, when they were outsourced off-shore, meant lay-offs for hard-working Americans. Business says they outsource to save money. Offshore, they are not required to pay employees at the same rate. Offshore, they are not required to maintain OSHA sanctioned, safe environments. Offshore, they are not required to adhere to union bargained contracts. Offshore, these employees do not pay U.S. income taxes, nor are companies required to pay social security taxes or unemployment premiums based on payroll amounts.

Types of jobs sent offshore:
. Production: physical manufacturing (primarily to China)
. IT Services: Software Engineering (primarily to India & other English speaking countries) HP, IBM, Intel, AT&T, AMD, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, SAP, BEA, etc.
. Innovation Outsourcing: to South Africa, India, Pakistan, China, Mexico, Russia, etc.
. Transfer of Intellectual Property
. Customer Service: All customer service work to English Speaking Countries (any company that provides Customer Service via phone or internet)


Our "The U.S.A. Jobs for Americans Plan & Honors Program":
1. Identify and report the rate of off-shore staffing in each U.S. based company.
(e.g.: Apple and IBM each staff 100,000 employees. Each staff 20,000 employees offshore = 20%)
2. Each company that outsources offshore is asked to reduce offshore staffing by 50% and replace those workers with US Based employees.
(e.g.: Apple and IBM are each asked to replace 10,000 of their offshore employees with 10,000 US based workers)
3. Each company that participates in the plan receives a tax reduction for each offshore employee replaced by a U.S. employee equal to 25% of each employee's compensation (fully loaded).
4. Each company fully participating in this program will receive a U.S. Honors Award to display company wide. Reports are published monthly. Participating companies may advertise that they have received this award. U.S. Citizens are encouraged to frequent U.S. Honors companies.
(e.g.: Apple fully participates in the Program. IBM does not. Apple reduces offshore jobs by 10,000; advertises and staffs 10,000 U.S. jobs; receives 25% tax cut for 10,000 employees; receives honors award; runs ads - especially during the SuperBowl that they are a U.S. Honors Award Winner. Business thrives. Employees Happy. America is working. Buying Apple products and services.
IBM does not participate; receives no incentives or tax cuts; No new ads; No award program. U.S. Honors Report shows they are not participating in the program. After 2nd year of program, decides to join it and begins hiring U.S. based employees and reducing number of employees offshore.)