Dunn, Jeffrey: Paglia

 “Revalorizing the Trades” by Camille Paglia stimulated many thoughts and ideas. The essay also brought about a serious and intriguing question: Why are so many American industries choosing to move their businesses overseas? The reasons for this moving of industries are various and wide-ranging, however, three reasons stand out more than all of the others.

               

First of all, U.S. industries are moving overseas because companies can hire workers at extremely low wages. This helps the company retain more money, but also maintain the same production level. Cheaper employees mean less money being dished out by companies. In the United States, minimum wage laws are heavily enforced, therefore companies must pay employees by the law or else they face legal consequences. This is when companies take their plants and industries overseas, so that they can pay the much lower wages.

            

Another reason jobs move overseas is employers do not have to provide benefits for their employees in other countries. In the United States, employees want things such as health and dental care, retirement, and worker’s compensation. This all causes companies to spend more money and make less profit. Companies want to make as much profit as possible; therefore, the companies move overseas so that they can generate more profit. The overall populations in other countries are not used to enjoying the employee benefits that U.S. companies give to their employees. Therefore, when a U.S. company moves overseas, the new workforce does not ask for theses benefits, because they are not used to them. All in all, companies moving overseas equal more wealth and less hassle with employees.

           

Last, but certainly not least, companies make the decision to move plants and industries overseas to get away from the regulations and laws set by the United States government, such as OSHA (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration). These regulations put a hold on American industry by regulating safety hazards, as well as every chemical used in American industry. This grip that the American government holds forces companies to go overseas to seek lighter regulation of laws. With the lessening of the laws, companies save money due to the lack of safety materials and informational data sheets that the company must provide.

            Overall, U.S. companies move their plants and industries overseas so that their company can survive these tough economic times. However, when these U.S. companies make this move, it only worsens the already unstable economy, because it takes away thousands of jobs and leaves many families reliant on the American government’s assistance. This shapes the U.S. population’s perception of the companies to be extremely negative. Most American people believe that these companies move overseas due to pure greed.