Carl Person To Bring Corporate Downsizing & Outsourcing To A Screeching Halt

Carl Person is currently seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party for President in 2012. During his campaign to obtain the nomination of the Green Party for New York State Attorney General in 2006, he pledged to use the office of New York State Attorney General to bring corporate downsizing and outsourcing to a screeching halt, as soon as possible:

"Corporate downsizing occurs when an employer (let's say in New York State) terminates the employment of a large number of employees, usually at the same time, often just before the end of the corporation's tax year. Some of the terminations can't be helped. The corporation has lost its market and has need of fewer employees, and has no intention of hiring replacement employees in a less-costly labor market (such as in Mexico, India or China). But other downsizings are accompanied by plans to hire as many, if not more, employees to do the same work in another country. Sometimes an intermediate company is hired in such country to manage the new operation, but the result is the same. The downsizing company gets rid of its New York employees including the higher hourly rate and the various benefits (such as medical coverage, pension contributions, vacation days, smoke breaks, etc.) and is able to get foreign workers to do the same work for about 1/5th to 1/3rd as much. These are formidable savings for businesses and such savings are driving the engine of outsourcing to get rid of jobs in the United States and create far lower-paying jobs in foreign countries.

I'm not going to discuss what needs to be done to stop outsourcing, other than to say that it is imperative that outsourcing be brought to a screeching halt, as soon as possible. You can't have Americans paying mortgages, rent, tuition, food costs, and saving for retirement without compensation that reflects the costs of living in the United States. Outsourcing companies are being given a free ride in the American economy with no advantage to Americans. They are given this free ride because they have the money to pay for the campaigns of your elected officials, who have let the free ride take place, as the United States is deteriorating into a third-world country. The multinational corporations don't care about this consequence. They go wherever they can make the most money and the local people be damned! The local people (meaning the voters in New York) can turn the tables on them by voting for someone who has the insight and tools to put a crimp in the plans of various companies seeking to pull up stakes and leave for greener (foreign) pastures.

The main way of attaching the outsourcing/downsizing problem is to review all dealings by the company that might have created obligations to stay, or stay in New York for a number of years. The company may have obtained governmental subsidies for opening up a plant in New York, with the full benefits of the subsidy not having been realized by New York. The company's employee handbook might have some promises actual or implied, which could be used as the basis for a lawsuit for breach of contract and/or fraud. There are various ways to skin a cat and the NYS Attorney General (as well as the Attorneys General in all other states) are the most appropriate governmental officials to do something about many improper downsizings/outsourcing."