The news today: AmEx to request $3.5B in U.S. aid.
Makes me think back to a couple years ago, when AmEx put me over the edge...
I'd had an AmEx card for a few years and one day my phone rang. I answered, and it was AmEx's "security" department, wanting to confirm a couple large transactions that I'd made.
So far, so good.
The trouble, for me, was the person on the other end of the line was clearly located in India. This made 2 statements:
- American Express prefers cheap offshore labor over American jobs.
- American Express is so unconcerned with any repercussions from offshoring that it houses a "security" department (which no doubt, has access to social security numbers) in India. This is a group with customer interaction, not some back-office jobs that are typically offshored.
This was enough for me. I immediately cancelled my account and wrote a letter to the CEO. Naturally I didn't get a response.
So you can imagine my anger today when I read that AmEx is asking for aid. After all, CEO Kenneth Chenault received an estimated $50M in compensation last year.
I've always been told that offshoring is GOOD! It provides "savings" and shareholder value. Where are those "savings" now ?! The chickens have come home to roost. High times are over for these corporate barons. They have slowly brought about the erosion of the middle class, while their shareholders and the public as a whole stood by.
The U.S. government should NOT be doling out money to companies that offshore jobs. Particularly ones that do it so unabashedly.