offshoring

Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturer that probably assembled your new iPad, is on the hot seat again this week, reviving discussions about evils of offshoring. But if you think money is the only reason why Apple doesn't make its gadgets closer to home, you're missing the bigger picture.

I recently penned a column pointing out that when America "lost" the TV manufacturing industry to Japan, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, because the business has become a low-margin money loser. A lot of readers disagreed.

Walmart's conquest of of America embodies a decades-long drive toward the lowest common denominator, off-shoring jobs, maximizing profits and reducing quality. But is it a trend we can reverse? Deep in the heart of Ohio, a new store aims to try.

It's no secret that many middle-class families are in a financial bind, caught between rising costs and falling incomes. But according to recent government reports, the middle-class squeeze is not a recent development, and isn't likely to disappear anytime soon.

How many problems with the U.S. economy would be solved if more people bought American, and if more companies would were willing to help them do so by manufacturing here? Joel Joseph of the Made in the USA Foundation thinks it would help plenty, and he's honoring those that have taken the lead.

You can't call layoffs downsizing anymore, and offshoring sounds just as bad to workers as "shipping your jobs to Asia." What to do? Come up with better buzzwords, of course. And who could object to something so "right" as rightsizing or rightshoring?

As the unemployment rate remains sky high, it's not hard to see why the issue of overseas has become a hot topic on both sides of the aisle. But overseas outsourcing keeps growing worse, not better, with some business consultants predicting that a huge increase is on the way.

CNBC's Larry Kudlow blogged Tuesday that the a GOP win in November's elections would create an explosion of U.S. job creation. One of his guests that day on The Kudlow Report was DailyFinance's Peter Cohan, who breaks down precisely why that rhetoric doesn't match reality.

Intel co-founder Andy Grove wants to induce U.S. firms to rebuild the nation's manufacturing base and boost our employment. So, he proposes a tax on companies that send jobs offshore. It's an intriguing idea, but it needs lots of work.

Many of the jobs that have been lost in the recession are unlikely to come back. Those that do are more likely to be freelance, temporary or contract positions rather than permanent jobs with benefits. Technology, off-shoring and the disappearance of bubble-era jobs are all to blame.