Tata Consultancy Services or TCS, an Indian corporation, bills itself as "the world leading information technology consulting services, and business process outsourcing organization." In 2003 Mrs. Clinton pulled out all the stops to bring Tata to Buffalo where it has created a grand total of 10 jobs. Tata's website boasts that the deal was the "brainchild of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)." In fact, Mrs. Clinton took great pride in having lured an outsourcing company to Buffalo. (see
http://www.tcs.com/... and
http://www.tcs.com/...)
"When I learned of Tata Consultancy Services' intentions to expand its company, I thought immediately of Buffalo and dedicated myself to showing the company all that the region had to offer, " Senator Clinton said. "TCS could have located anywhere in the country. I am proud but not surprised that they chose Buffalo."
TCS has gratiously helped many Fortune 500 companies to ship jobs out of the United States. According to Jim Boldt, CEO of Computer Task Group in Buffalo, Tata's proposals are generally that the work be taken outside the U.S. (Buffalo News 3/8/03)
But the story gets even better. When she was asked about Tata's extremely poor job creation record and outsourcing strategy, Mrs. Clinton told CNN's Lou Dobbs:
Well of course I know that they outsource jobs but they've created 10 jobs in Buffalo and have told me and the Buffalo community that they intend to be a new source of jobs in the area...you know outsourcing does work both ways. You know we cannot close our borders. We have to be smarter about competing
People, there is an alternative to this kind of self-serving utter nonsense. Jonathan Tasini, Hillary Clinton's opponent in the upcoming New York Democratic U.S. Senate primary, has just come out with a sensible economic plan that, if enacted, would really improve the lives of average citizens. The plan is called a New Deal for New Yorkers which of course harkens us back to a time when the Democratic Party had the guts face down the nation's wealthy elites and demand that something be given back to the hard working people who make the wheels of the economy turn every day.
Some of Tasini's specfic proposals include:
A single payer health care system - "Medicare for All" that would save New Yorkers an average of $2,679 per year, cover the 3 million who have no health care and provide better health care for those who are paying increasingly large amounts for skimpy coverage.
An end to NAFTA type so-called "free trade" agreements
The guarantee of the right to form a union.
A comprehensive alternative energy plan called the Apollo Alliance that could create more than 200,000 new high paying jobs over the next 10 years.
A universal pension system modelled on the current Federal Employee Thrift Savings Plan, that would not be subject to the vagaries of the stock market and protected from the high administrative costs imposed by Wall Street brokerage firms.
An end to the occupation of Iraq recognizing that it is also an economic issue that is causing an incredible drain of resources that could be spent on critical domestic prioriries.
There is so much more to this remarkable document that I highly recommend that you read it in its entirety (http://www.tasinifornewyork.org/...)(only 11 pages for those of you who are pressed for time).
I don't know about you but just the part we've looked at so far sounds hell of a lot better to me than 10 jobs created by an outsourcing firm.
Al Ronzoni, Jr.
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