Book review--Exporting America

Lou Dobbs is hardly what one would call a raving liberal; in fact, he's not liberal at all, given almost any issue one could name. His latest book, however, Exporting America, shows how sensible even a right-winger can be, if s/he is not blinded or cowed by the religious/neo-con extremists. Dobbs' extended essay, which follows up on his broadcasting on an apparently nightly basis, argues "loudly" against the practice of outsourcing by (formerly) American businesses. His research into the exporting of our manufacturing base, as well as the relatively high-paying jobs within it, to other countries gives the lie to the neo-con party line that by reducing the work force in these areas, we are actually creating better jobs for the men and women that are the victims of "downsizing". What is really happening is that the businesses employing this ruthless tactic are merely increasing their profit margins without regard to the effects their behavior is having on our country.
Dobbs points out a number of these serious ramifications to our economy and society as a whole. He stresses the fact that a vast majority of those who lose their jobs to overseas competition only find jobs paying roughly 75-80% of their former salary, making a mockery of the claims that by "retraining" American workers we are actually improving their lives and prospects for advancement. Dobbs also shows that, all neo-con blather to the contrary, outsourcing is not limited to "blue-collar" occupations, leaving the better white-collar jobs for Americans; the high-tech, medical, and even legal fields are also seeing their work exported to countries where the workers make 1/10 the money an American could expect for the same job.
Dobbs' main point in Exporting America is that these businesses, due to their international nature, and given almost no reason to do otherwise by successive administrations, are simply looking to their bottom line and reducing costs. The problem for the US in their doing so is obvious, if one is able to pay attention to the facts. Our economy is in deep trouble as our trade deficit and debt grows higher, and by losing the ability and desire to protect our own workforce, these "American" businesses are unpatriotically helping to put us deeper in that hole.
Sound familiar? Dobbs is contributing another aspect to Kevin Phillips' thesis that the US is on the path to socioeconomic collapse, to the benefit of those very few at the top of the wealth ladder. Dobbs warns that even when Smirky and the gang claim to be improving the employment numbers, it behooves us all to look beyond the quantities thrown at us and examine the quality of those "new jobs". Is it really a good thing for the US to replace a job working on the line at GM with one working on the line at McDonald's or even Starbucks'? I doubt the man or woman making $10 less per hour thinks so . . .
Dobbs' work here is on the order of a polemic, in the purest sense of the term. He has an axe to grind, and he grinds it well. Being an essay, Exporting America cannot be judged by the same standards an academic work of history or sociology; Dobbs is not drawing upon an extensive body of previous research, nor did he conduct his own in the field to the strictest of standards. This does not mean his book has no value, of course--essays of this nature are generally considered the basis for future work on a topic, and the arguments and points that Dobbs make are certainly worthy of systematic exploration and proof. It would be wonderful if good research disproved Dobbs' thinking here, but I have little hope of that being possible, especially given that many of those opposing Dobbs comprise the liars and thieves on Smirky's side of the aisle.