[Drew]

Well.. since KTOG beat me to the punch.. again..

I'll just reiterate that outsourcing is not a entirely bad thing. It is bad when it is unregulated, such as the case with NAFTA. The bill which you reference, if I recall correctly (I can't seem to find it in the Senate database - did it even make it that far?), would give tax benefits to corporations who outsourced work to specific countries and under very strict guidelines which revolved around what my professors referred to as the "Samaritan Effect," wherein a company establishes a solid reputation in an unpenetrated market by providing jobs to the community and then moves to begin providing its product and/or service in said market, thus generating TAXABLE income for the US-based corporation, which also pays tariffs and import taxes on its goods (this break is not applicable for people who outsource to say, Mexico, because there are no import taxes or tariffs thanks to NAFTA).

Furthermore, outsourcing has almost NOTHING to do with a trade defecit with China. The problem is that the Clinton Administration enacted a trade agreement with China that practically lifted all restrictions on imports, while China to this day maintains heavy restrictions on our exports, which are literally BANNED in most parts of the country. And a $100 billion trade defecit isn't enough to break the back of the economy, but when that catches up (just in time for Clinton to step out of office), it sure as shit can be enough to nuke a surplus that was what, $82 billion? Not to mention the tech crash and the dot com crash and the NAFTA backlash.

I don't think I've ever met a Liberal that was well-versed in Economics, seriously. Anyone who is knows that Capitalism is the way to be rock: