Back in April I published a post entitled “How About A Hire American Act“. I have always been a staunch believer that US taxpayer dollars should go to support the US first and that all projects funded with US taxpayor dollars should hire US citizens before hiring local nationals and then other foreign nationals. To me it has always been black and white…I’ve never really been much of a “grey” person.
Below is an email I got from a reader. I can honestly tell you I have no idea who sent me this email. But I can say that even though I’m an electrician and not an economics major, they wrote it in an easily understandable manner.
They went to a lot of effort to TRY to get me to think outside my perfectly square little box (because that’s the only kind of boxes there should be-LOL) to see things from a different perspective. The amount of effort and thought in itself deserves mention. Many thanks-whoever you are!
Believe me when I say I do understand and respect your “Hire Americans Act” blog which I read some time ago and therefore like everyone else the following blog is simply an “opinion” and not meant to procure sarcasm or smart remarks from any of the other bloggers.
This excellent site if I am not mistaken was originally focused on for very good reasons I might add the reported widespread abuse of the policy and procedures, safe working practices and code of ethics of a certain US based (Houston) aka “Cayman Islands” company or at that time “Companies” before they split up for legal reasons (Law Suits).
Moving on I take my hat off to the continued hard work and effort put in by “DC” aka “Ms Sparky” in order to uncover many of the disgusting activities carried out by various US DoD contractor companies. We have since seen this site develop into an extremely informative and often tragic source of information for many expatriates around the globe.
It did however surprise me to read one comment written by a blogger who asked “What do these people do for the American Economy” which I believe was directed at Foreign Nationals. Where are we going with this verbal diatribe? Why is it some folk cannot see past their nose?
Has anyone heard of KBR International, Halliburton, Bechtel, Parsons or perhaps BAE Systems the UK’s largest arms producer who recently pleaded guilty to bribery allegations and dishing out millions of Euros to win lucrative defense contracts in a number of countries?
Hello!! Are these other giants corrupt? Hell Yes! But no more than most other military or civilian contractors around the world who are just as adept at Fraud, Waste and Abuse as the next guy but they do employ thousands of hard working people from All over the world who All contribute to the “Global Economy”.
Should they be allowed to get away with it? Of course not my gripe is an economic one rather than a criminal one at this point, but do not go off on a tangent beating me up I do care greatly about the ethics side of the house but that is not what this blog is about.
If there are issues then they are probably leadership issues and unfortunately you will never clean house as long as the senior management of these influential companies are ex Generals Etc.
We have to face the facts that hopefully law makers such as but not limited to Sen. Dorgan and Sen. Franken will continue to kick ass and publicly expose the corrupt practices of certain companies and individuals who must be held accountable for their actions and prosecuted accordingly. However, we all know none of these corporations are going away anytime soon therefore team players such as Ms Sparky can only persist in chipping away at their armor and hope others take notice.
Having said this I believe it would be in everyone’s interest to take a few steps back and look at the broader economic picture rather than simply focus on pointing fingers or firing off negative statements regarding the so called Foreign Nationals employed by US DoD contractors in various locations.
We all have our part to play in the “Global Economy” I’m sorry but this is not just about jobs for US citizens. There are hundreds of International companies based all over the world employing a multi-national workforce from oil fields and aerospace to Medicare and the Auto Industry many of whom employ a great number of Expat American citizens within there workforce and each of us in some way contribute towards each others national economy one way or another.
Please take time out to read the information below but I would ask that we do not start “Nit Picking” about each others economy or why X countries makes more than Y… it is simply a random example of bilateral trade figures which every country needs to survive especially in today’s economic climate.
There can be anywhere up to 500,000 US citizens in the United Kingdom at any one time these are government statistics and proven facts which is common knowledge and has nothing to do with a security issue just in case anyone wanted to chime in there… the numbers alone speak volumes and indicate contrary to popular belief just what an outstanding relationship both these nations actually have with each other regardless of the otherwise ignorant statements from some minority groups.
Furthermore approximately 5.25million Americans live/work in 160+ countries around the world NOT including US military for obvious security reasons.
The estimated figures by region are:
• Africa: 109,600
• East Asia and Pacific: 754,000
• Europe: 1,488,000 If all these Americans were placed in one state it would be the 17th most populous state in the US!! More or less…let’s not split hairs folks.
• Near East: 586,000
• South Central Asia: 97,000
• Western Hemisphere: 2,222,000
• For a total of 5,256,600Where is the outcry from these areas demanding all Americans go home and give the positions to host country nationals? Probably little or nothing which is a good thing because I have to admit a lot could be attributed to the need for technical expertise and overseas experience especially when it involves working to Code where there can be NO substitute for that. Nevertheless there are a lot of well qualified candidates out there who deserve the same chance as anyone else in the job market regardless of nationality and I am not talking about the inevitable deadwood that always manages to float onto the scene on most overseas contracts.
Here are a random number of average US/EU/UK bilateral trade figures and other relevant information past and present if anyone cares to mull over covering an approximate 3 year period:
Please bear with me Ms Sparky I really am on your side I just want other people to see the bigger picture.
EU Membership: The EU has prioritized membership for the Western Balkans, Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey they are all formally acknowledged candidates.
The United States strongly supports Macedonia’s aspirations for full integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Today, Macedonia and the United States enjoy a cooperative relationship across a broad range of political, economic, cultural, military, and social issues.
In the first five months of 2008, total trade between Macedonia and the United States was $37.6 million. U.S. exports accounted for 1.2% of Macedonia’s total imports. U.S. meat, mainly poultry, and electrical machinery have been particularly attractive to Macedonian importers. Principal Macedonian exports to the United States are tobacco, apparel, footwear, and iron and steel.
The U.S. economic relationship with the European Union (EU) is the largest and most complex in the world, generating trade and investment flows of about $2.7 billion a day and supporting 14 million jobs. This enormous volume of transatlantic trade and investment promotes economic prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic and in the dozens of other countries that trade with the transatlantic partners. The United States and the EU continue to pursue initiatives to create new opportunities for transatlantic commerce.
The EU countries with the largest FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the United States are the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and France.
Investment: U.S. and EU investors together owned roughly $2.7 trillion in direct investment in each other’s economy in 2007.
Sales of services in the EU by majority U.S-owned affiliates were $402.5 billion in 2006 (latest data available), while sales of services in the United States by majority EU-owned firms were $336.0 billion. Intrafirm trading – trade that takes place within the same company – accounts for approximately one-third of total U.S. trade with the EU.
US – UK TRADE AND INVESTMENT STATISTICS
Trade in goods
The United Kingdom is the United States’ sixth-largest trading partner overall and second-largest
trading partner in the EU (after Germany). The United States is the UK’s top export destination and
Its second-largest trading partner overall (again after Germany).
Annual bilateral trade volume has increased steadily, reaching a record $112 billion in 2008 ($58.6
Billion from the UK to US, $53.8 billion from the US to the UK). The US-UK trade relationship in goods is remarkably balanced.Trade in services
The United Kingdom is the United States’ largest partner for trade in services. Total services trade
between the two countries was worth $110.5 billion in 2008: from 2007 to 2008, trade in services
between the US and UK increased by 4.5%.Jobs
•?In 2006 American affiliates of British companies supported an estimated 908,800 American jobs
providing an average compensation of $71,803.48.
•?Top 5 states by employment (with corresponding investment figures*) were:
•?California (98,200 jobs; $16.5 billion invested)
•?New York (74,500 jobs; $15.8 billion invested)
•?Texas (69,000 jobs; $19.2 billion invested)
•?Illinois (49,700 jobs; $7.4 billion invested)
•?Pennsylvania (49,600 jobs; $6.1 billion invested)*Investment figures measure total property, plants and equipment owned by British companies in these
states.I spent 31/2 years in Iraq so I know where you guys are coming from my point is we all need to learn to work together regardless of our nationality or ethnic background and of course I agree there needs to be a huge weeding out program and a solid process to regulate these companies in order to stem the continued dollar generated practice of hiring unqualified cheap TCN labor which can ultimately and in fact has resulted in the loss of military and civilian lives.
Here is a novel idea, why not implement some serious oversight at the pre-hiring level by placing “Qualified” recruiters at the desks to screen and hire “Qualified” people rather than the “good old buddy system” where a journeyman might be overlooked in favor of a wallflower who actually knows jack about the trade but I guess that would be just too easy right!!
“I’m just saying”….
Thanks for your time and keep up the great work ma’am.
“Observer”
Hmmm. That definitely gives me something more to think about!!
Ms Sparky
Ms Sparky, when you say hire Americans first, does that includes LEGAL immigrants live in US? or you would be against hiring them even though they pay taxes?
“Hire Americans first” refers to American Citizens and not those that are here illegally or in process for citizenship meeting the legal requirements.
To start…there should be NO illegal immigrants in the US.
Second, If you are a legal immigrant and are paying taxes to the US then that would include you as well as long as the position does not require US citizenship.
I can see the writers point but he is mixing apples and oranges. Most of our gripes have to do with Bosnians and Macedonians and not the Brits, French nor Germans. Indians are somewhere in there as well. They point out how well they live back home after a couple of yers here. That is, the ones under the old payscale. For some, a decent monthly salary back home is $350-$600 a month. Here they make $4000-$6300 a month. If we, US persons, can make the same monies on a similiar extrapolated scale we would be happy as a pig in sheise. Secondly, the poster is using UK, French, germans as examples of trade with the US. He should be using Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Kenya, Georgia, Sierra leone, India etc as they have a big populace with KBR. This project is funded mostly by the US and should mostly have US workers that are paid a decent salary. It is managed by non manager types, retired generals, who also happen how to not operate a for profit business. They are there just to make smooth any wrinkles that arise with the contract with the Army. Why? It is because the active Generals are one who they probably had a hand in with picking to rise to the top. So these guys probably “owe” these ex-Generals something like a a reward (like being emplyed by KBR) after they themselves are retired. So that is how some CARs get downgraded from a 4 to a 3 level. It is a quid pro quo system for the top of the food chain. Now does this happen this way in the real world? probably but not as blatantly!
Let’s not swoon over ONE articulate TCN. The majority of TCN’s on US bases, milking on the teat of the US taxpayer, annoying the US soldier with their inarticulate butchering of the English language, annoying their licensed US co-workers with their third-world skill sets, making what would be the equivilent on me knocking down $500,000 annual, setting up cabals wherein only their countrymen and buddies get into certain positions, cutting slack to buddies and countrymen over ex-pats everywhere from the chow-hall to the tool room to billeting, etc.
With 10% unemployment in the US, fer-gods-sake hire Americans, get rid of the Balkans, Indians and Nepalese. Will some guy from Nepal spend so much as a dime in the US economy? Will a newly hired ex-pat, with a wife and kiddies at home whom he sees every R&R, spend more and therefore ‘stimulate’ the US economy? Where is the Democrats on this? Stimulate locally by hiring the US ex-pat globally.
JustUS, I hear ya — as long as a company’s getting money via a US funded contract, they should hire US citizens before hiring TCNs. “Third World skill sets?” That’s putting it mildly. Most of the TCNs I’ve dealt with had no skills at all — except the abilities to lie, cheat, fall down on the job and BS at every opportunity. And when you call ‘em on a transgression, they just flash a big, phony smile and say, “OK, OK, OK.” They truly think that Westerners are big, freaking idiots; suckers for nice words and a friendly smile — and maybe they’re right. I worked for an Arab construction company for a year in Kuwait and managed around 300 TCNs; mostly Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Hindis. It was a dangerous, filthy, depressing, maddening horror show. Never again. So much for Third World romanticism! In reality the Third World, and much of the Second, is a stinking pit of ignorance, disease, violence, poverty and backwardness.
Perhaps another way to look at this is the amount of DOD contracts awarded to foreign companies. In particular, look at DLA. Supreme is owned by a US Citizen but based in the Netherlands – to avoid US taxes. TWI is owned by US Citizens but based in Switzerland – to avoid US taxes. All these firms depend on US contracts for their livelihood. The President rants about US firms investing overseas and not in the US. While his own Government allows this to happen?