The "Off-Shoring" of American Jobs

For those who might have missed it, earlier this week N. Gregory Mankiw, chairman of the Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, said that the outsourcing of U.S. service jobs to foreign countries, or "off-shoring," was "a good thing." It's only "the latest manifestation of the gains from trade that economists have talked about" for centuries, said Mankiw.

Typical economist. Knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Not only rabid Democrats jumped on his statement. Some rabid Republicans did as well. Like N.C. Congressman Walter B. Jones, Republican of Farmville, who felt led to write a letter to President Bush about it. "Anyone who believes it's a good thing to ship U.S. jobs overseas and to send Americans to the unemployment lines should not be advising the president of the United States," Jones wrote.

North Carolina Republicans have good reason to be nervous about the jobs issue. Which is exactly why Republican candidates for both the 5th and the 10th district seats in Congress this year have already been running TV spots, promising to do something about it.