The new Vietnam syndrome.

• Author: Hightower, Jim
• Position: Vox Populist - Outsourcing

Several of America's top high-tech giants are now breaking with conventional thinking on the offshoring of their factories and jobs, asking a heretofore unthinkable question: "Who needs China?"

"Let's invest in new, state-of-the-art-factories," they declare excitedly. "We'll launch a bold new initiative to train tens of thousands of teachers who, in turn, will educate the high-tech workforce of the future, generating a wave of jobs and making our American corporations the most competitive in the world!"

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Wow, what vision, what a boost to America's middle class possibilities!

Uh ... America? Who said anything about the USA? No, no, the high-tech powerhouses are not decamping from China to reinvest in our country, but are shifting production to Vietnam. It seems that the millionaire chieftains of Silicon Valley now deem the price of low-wage workers in China to be too high, and their wandering eyes have settled on Vietnam, where the per capita income is less than half that of the Chinese people.

Thus, on October 29, Intel CEO Paul Otellini stood in a packed auditorium in Ho Chi Minh City and hollered out: "Hello, Vietnam." He was there for the dedication of Intel's sparkling, billion-dollar chip factory, which employs 4,000 workers. Also, Intel is trying to realign Vietnam's educational system to be more corporate friendly, pouring money into the training of 87,000 teachers. Imagine the impact here if Intel were to contribute to training 87,000 American teachers.

Hewlett-Packard is another globetrotter trotting to Vietnam, having built a facility there for outsourcing its software engineering work from the USofA. How nice. In the name of making their American-branded and American-headquartered corporations "competitive," these high-tech honchos--who demand and receive generous subsidies, protections, privileges, and other advantages from our country--are abandoning Americans. If they won't repatriate their investment dollars and jobs back home, why should our nation support them?

I n these times of low wages, long-term unemployment, and middle class decline, Americans are left to seethe as corporate profits, stock prices, and CEO pay keep going up. To stoke your fury to white hot, however, consider...