Black Box Report

New numbers from the Labor Department have left economists aghast. In the month of May unemployment jumped a shocking half a percent to 5.5%, the biggest spike since the 1980's. Digging into the numbers, many noticed an unusual jump in the number of teens and 20-somethings looking for work in may. It appears an early start to the summer job hunt might be skewing the numbers. But economists say there is no question, the nation's job market is getting worse. Businesses handed out 49,000 pink slips last month, with workers in construction, manufacturing and retail all seeing jobs vanish at a quick pace. This month's jobs report is the fifth in a row where employers have cut positions. So far, 2008 has seen almost 325,000 jobs disappear thanks to the economic slowdown.

And here's a sobering thought: Statistics say that in just a few years, 3.5 million jobs will have been sent overseas, American jobs outsourced as cost-saving measures by companies who are employing cheaper labor around the globe. Outsourcing is far from a black and white issue, as everyone tries to adjust to the growing global economy.

In a way the issue of outsourcing has its roots in WWII. Protectionism, it can be argued, drove the Japanese attacks. Our leaders after the war decided in their wisdom that we could not wall off the world, and the results have been good for America. But while we've historically enjoyed trade surpluses, in recent years that surplus has turned into an ever-growing deficit.

In business, nobody promises you a profit. As a champion of capitalism, I accept the risks with the rewards of trade. But the problem today is that we’re losing on an uneven playing field and, even worse, many of our own are the worst offenders. I'm all for making a buck, I even get that the global economy for some means outsourcing or closing up shop. But for entire industries in America, jobs are getting shipped overseas and pink slips are getting handed out by the thousands to U.S. workers - just because they can. CEO's get even more obscene pay packages, foreign workers still get exploited and worst of all the offenders get rewarded - not condemned - by our government. In the bizarre world that can only be Washington, a company that shutters its plant stateside, sends jobs to China and sets up a corporate shell in the Caymans actually gets rewarded with a de facto tax shelter.

I’m not here to rewrite the tax code, but I do know this: If you take advantage of all this country has to offer, then cut and run to make the heftiest profit margin you can, there ought to be price. Again, I believe in capitalism, but if you're willing to do anything to make a buck, you ought to pay the piper.