Just over a month ago, San Jose-based Cisco Systems replaced GM on the Dow Jones list of the nation’s biggest companies. Now the networking and communications giant announced that it will be laying off some 700 people at its corporate headquarters in San Jose. The move is part of a larger strategy, announced in November, to reduce spending by $1 billion in fiscal 2009.
At the time, the company announced that it “will be targeting reductions in travel and discretionary-related expenses, including offsites, outside services, equipment, events, trade shows, prototypes, marketing and other activities.” The company is now saying that “this limited restructuring is part of our ongoing, targeted realignment of resources.”
Cisco showed a 17 percent drop in revenue in the third quarter of its 2009 fiscal year, and a 21 percent drop in net income. Rumors of eventual layoffs have therefore been swirling throughout the company. All told, between 1,500 and 2,000 layoffs are expected worldwide as a result of current economic conditions.
Nevertheless, critics are noting that Cisco’s second corporate headquarters in Bangalore, India, is soon to be expanded to 3,000 workers, and the company’s first Chief Globalization Officer Wim Elfrink indicated in an interview that the company is investigating the possibility of opening other, similar centers in Latin America, Russia, and especially China. This leaves critics wondering whether the company is downsizing its workforce as a result of the economy or simply outsourcing it. Regardless, the outlook for the 700 newly laid-off employees in San Jose is dismal.
Read more at CIO and Marketwatch.
Of course they’re outsourcing.
Call it “strategically focusing expansion on worldwide operations”, if you like unnecessary words.
Don’t just blame Cisco. Remember to look in the mirror and blame ourselves. High taxes, long commutes, and high housing costs do not encourage job creation. Local governments have created all three.
Face the facts people, our country is in the decline cycle of its existence. It will be bankrupt and broken into pieces in the next 20 years. much like the USSR. Sad indeed!
“This leaves critics wondering whether the company is downsizing its workforce as a result of the economy or simply outsourcing it.”
Now that is pretty much a no brainer don’t you think? With all the tax breaks this and other huge corporations get for outsourcing, and the cheap labor they are getting outside the US, why would this be a surprise? We should boycott anything made outside of US until these companies stop screwing the American people out of jobs. We should also demand that no more tax breaks be given to these companies who outsource jobs. Where is American pride and integrity in business? Sickening.
Americans do not have a right to a job from private companies. People need to keep on learning new skills and not be complacent. Fact is there are hard working skilled people that live in other countries that don’t play on the internet all day while at work. Whining gets you nothing but sympathy. The American consumer has no loyalty to this country or even their local mom and pop store as they will drive to a larger corporate store to save nickle.
#4-Agreed, continued education is vital to one’s professional success but where does one go to get this education? Schools and colleges are on death row thanks to irresponsible spending, and $800K salaries for Presidents of Universities!
You are dead wrong when you say we don’t have a right to American jobs from the private sector. If they hate America so much and can rich without us buying their products then they can just move overseas.
As you so aptly pointed out, ” The American consumer has no loyalty to this country or even their local mom and pop store as they will drive to a larger corporate store to save nickel.” And until that changes the American people can reap what they sow. By buying imported products and by abandoning small business in favor of less expensive garbage shipped in from overseas, they have done this to themselves.
And for those of you putting the blame on government, who in the hell do you think voted in these paragons of ignorance and greed?
Kathleen # 3 opined:“We should boycott anything made outside of US until these companies stop screwing the American people out of jobs.’ Sorry, Kathleen, it’s the high cost of labor here that is “screwing the American people out of jobs.” We can keep all the jobs here if everyone in the USA is willing to pay double the price for everything we buy. But that won’t stop the rest of the world from buying things cheaper.
We are seeing the decline and fall of the USA Empire. Obama and his people are hastening it by printing $$, trying to run businesses (has government EVER run anything right?), and mortgaging our children and grandchildren with debt…all in order to do what? To prop up the non-producers in our country by “sharing the wealth”. If you’re a slacker, you get a subsidy. If you’re a business, or work hard to produce more income, they take it from you to prop up the slackers.
We are getting the government that those who voted for it deserve. We did not all vote for this tax and spend government. The Dems vilified The Electoral College when they lost to Dubya, but praise it when it gave a landslide to Obama. The popular vote was very close. The $64k question—can we survive Obama-Pelosi for 3 1/2 more years?
Greed is behind the outsourcing. Greed, greed, and more greed. Executives only care about their bonuses and stock options. They could care less about anything else.
Outsourcing engineering jobs is one step below treason, and it is time to start treating executives who outsource as the traitors they are.
All they are doing is using the downturn as an excuse to clear the deadwood.. simple as that.
#5, Kathleen, I don’t see it written anywhere that we have the right to a job. We have to earn jobs through work and education. If we are unable to differentiate the value of our labor from that of lower priced labor elsewhere, how can you blame businesses for taking advantage of the wage disparity?
The overseas low priced labor that you decry is providing small cars, electronics, toys, and many other things that drive a better quality of life for Americans, at a lower cost than if they were built in America. You are right, if we want to keep those kinds of jobs in America, then we should buy American. But we will all take a standard of living hit, because the American goods will be more expensive.
What’s the answer? Education (although as you put it, schools are in trouble, thanks to misguided government policies). Adding value to our labor faster than the overseas markets can.
Another answer…smaller, less intrusive government. Our big government model is creating tax and incentive structures that will continue to drive businesses overseas in search of lower cost resources (can you say “cap & trade?”).
I’m afraid that I agree with #6 JMO. We are hastening the inevitable decline of the greatest economic engine the world has ever know with bad policy decisions.
JMoC #6 is right. With Obama/Pelosi/Reid continuing to piss money away on bailouts, “stimulus,” Obamacare and cap-and-tax, any prudent corporation will begin transferring resources away from the country before the taxes go up to pay for all this stuff.
6 & 9—Obviously you both got the same memo from your Party regulars. Do you have an original thought besides “tax and spend” and “socialistic programs?” I would hope if you have criticism you could do better than this.
Would you propose he do nothing to try and repair the damage of the past 8 years? More of the same (and we have seen how well that worked)?
I guess we’ll await your response as soon as you get the next memo with the talking points you are supposed to use.
The common thread is that these jobs are being exported to countries that have virtually no labor laws. Our government is bloated and wasteful for sure, but I will still take this country over a country that still condones virtual slave labor. Our society is collectively slitting its own throat each time a job is sent to India, Mexico etc. Workers in the United States have taken reductions in pay and hours and yet the jobs still leave. Maybe this will only stop when we are on par with India or Mexico in having a large population that lives in third world conditions and there are no laws demanding humane working conditions, rolling the clock back hundreds of years. I just saw “Slumdog Millionaires” which is suppose to be a pretty accurate depiction of India’s underclass. I sure hope that is not where we are headed, but with each job that leaves it seems inevitable.
Hey Candy, if you really want to repair the damage “of the past 8 years” let’s stop by reducing government spending, waste and intrusion into people’s lives. Right now, we have more of the same, but on steroids.
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=2979
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/06/09/obamas_solution_to_overspending_is_more_overspending_96904.html
JMO has nailed it.
#‘s 5,7, & 11,
Do corporations have a responsibility to overpay for services, be unprofitable, bankrupt themselves, and be a burden to taxpayers? Are GM & Chrysler, due to their generous treatment of American workers, good examples of how US corporations should operate?
I know you’re all happy to see our Government overpay for everything. Now you want to see this extended to the private sector too?
Remember a little thing called the Cold War?
Why’d we bother standing up to communism for 40 years? So many Americans now seem eager to willingly embrace it.
#11 Reader,
Very well said. These corporations also thrived in the US thanks in large part to blood spilled by our military keeping our nation safe for them to conduct business.
To others who have said they don’t blame these corporations for shipping jobs overseas, how do they propose the US competes with nations turning a blind eye to the virtual slave labor in these countries? Talk to people who have lived or worked in Bagalore and the massive slums of poverty where our corporations are moving. I don’t know if we have a right to a job, but like Reader said in #11, morally and ethically these companies have an obligation to the US first.
Pat, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this yet again. I get tired of the same old argument that it is the government not greed by corporations that is trashing this country. Yawn, it is a one sided, close-minded argument that holds no real fact. We’ve HAD almost a decade of business friendly political leaders and oh yeah, it has really worked for us, NOT! Thank you Candy, well said~
Everyone wants to blame government rather than be proactive. WE chose whom to vote for, where to buy from, accept the BS in the media by buying their papers, and magazines. We chose where to spend our vacation dollars, what products to buy, where to get an education, etc., so we are indeed responsible for this mess. (I personally have had such a horrible time trying find, and to buy American made I’ve given up!)
We helped drive small business owners out by shopping at big chain stores, and ate at chain restaurants. WE did it not government.
I think Steve pretty much summed it up perfectly for me. Thank you Steve, well said~
High Deficits,
Tell that to Arnold! Look at what the recall got us with Mr. Wonderful! We’re almost bankrupt! He wants to invade the rights of the elderly and disabled by FINGER PRINTING them, and deny them health care.
Bush tapped into people’s PRIVATE email and phone lines.
Yeah, Republicans are masters of staying out of our personal lives. NOT!
John Galt,
You said, “I know you’re all happy to see our Government overpay for everything. Now you want to see this extended to the private sector too?” No one ever said they agreed with government over spending. Nor did anyone say companies should NOT be profitable. All I am saying is that companies should NOT be rewarded for outsourcing work from America to make humongous profits overseas while avoiding paying taxes that support THIS country. If you honestly believe these corporations aren’t exploiting hungry, poor people by paying them crap wages overseas, you are in serious denial.
My Father fought in three wars to protect and keep America strong. I’ll just bet he is turning over in his grave right now after seeing what has happened to the very country he put his life on the line for.
“We are all in the same boat in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
BY: G. K. Chesterton
“The greater the loyalty of a group toward the group, the greater is the motivation among the members to achieve the goals of the group, and the greater the probability that the group will achieve its goals.”
BY: Rensis Likert
#16: OK John, when they tell you that YOUR job just moved to Bangalore, be sure to grin and shake their hands. After all, to do anything more would be, according to you, embracing Communism!
#7. You have made your point.
Globalization was simply welfare for the rich and powerful.
However now that greedy dream is a night mare.
This country was taken down, not by the corporations that wanted profits, but by the investors that gave not a dam about this country.
Example: We turn an eye the other way as millions of Mexican come to pick the foods that feed us. Yet we blame , critcise, blame them for our social ills and economy.
God has spoken! We are now all taking it in the shorts. Now this is Globalization as the real deal.
Kick out the Ciscos and any other corporation that gives not a dam about loyal employee and community, Let them settle in those countries that they host. Obama has brought HOPE to this land. Those sneeky bastards that criticise yet have no positive answers, BE DAMED!
I saw a t shirt that read ” If it was’nt for those Pesky Mexican running all over our deserts to come and pick Tomatos, and stealing jobs. This country would not be in the state it’s in. It was worn by a Republican mortage broker working at McDonalds. Hey, A hamburger IS a Mexican creation, picked processed and served, by brown hands.
Orangatans are dieing in Borneo so McDonalds can raise more beef.
Stay out of Mcdonalds and these goofy resturants with fancy French name and every one in the back cooking is a Juan or Sancho from Sonora, Mexico.
Go to the little Mexican resturants that have a granny from Aguas Calietes, that learned her reciepes from her great Granny. They will even give you the reciepes.
Sancho, Da sue chef at Da McEnery plaza
#6 JMO. The reason that Obama is trying to rush his programs is that in the off year elections the party in power loses seats in the house and senate. So this fall is the best time for his socialistic programs to try and be passed.
#4: “Americans do not have a right to a job from private companies.”
True. But what about “rights” vs “responsibilities”? These corporations make their millions largely off US consumers. They have, in many cases, benefited from US laws. In most cases the corporate leaders gained their educations in US schools. Their corporate officers and directors enjoy the benefits of living in the United States. They have an absolute moral responsibility to provide jobs in the US.
Republicans are bad, therefore Democrats are good?
Democrats are bad, therefore Republicans are good?
Neither one of these arguments is worth squat.
High deficits are harmful regardless of who creates them. And both Bush and Obama have had a huge role recently.
#19,
Oh, give us a break Kathleen.
Wiretap me. Fingerprint me. Pull me over without any good reason every so often. Please.
Many of us would gladly suffer these indignities rather than being forced to work extra days..weeks..months, in order to pay “our fair share” of the tax bill that “compassionate do-gooders” are eager to impose on us so that the “less fortunate” aren’t taken advantage of.
Kathleen,
Are the corporations that source jobs oversees and or bring in highly trained talent to do much needed highly skilled work to blame for americans losing jobs or is the government with it’s third world level school system to blame.
Fewer jobs would be sourced out from under americans if the government would put education higher on the list.
In my career the most recent 10 years of american “talent” is uneducated, lazy, self centered, and just not worth much time and or a chance. The talent form India and Asia is just superior!
In a perfect world, American companies would not send jobs overseas to save money, NOR would American citizens hire illegal aliens to save money. But it’s not a perfect world and it’s human nature not to pay more for something than you need to. That’s reality. And we need Government that understands reality.
How many of those complaining about American companies outsourcing jobs actually provide employment themselves? Anybody?
I didn’t think so.
Try actually BEING an employer in this country. Try jumping through the hoops. Our Government, on all levels, has created conditions where if the payoff for having employees isn’t pretty damned dramatic, then it’s not worth the trouble.
Taxes. Regulations. Unions. Threat of lawsuits. All these combine to discourage all but the most determined, most ruthless, unscrupulous, most politically connected companies. You like the way this country is dominated by big corporations? Then just keep voting for politicians who believe it’s the Government’s job to punish business.
The corporate/government complex that results is an unholy alliance that NONE of us has the power to stand up to.
Greed, greed, greed.
Is there really any difference between “greedy” corporations moving jobs and profits oversees and “greedy” government moving money from those who have worked hard for it to those who haven’t?
People in power get to define the word. Republicans like to claim government is greedy and focus on economic progress. Democrats like to define corporations as greedy and focus on social progress. The reality is somewhere in between. The bottom line is that the folks in power get to define what constitutes greed.
And yes, I know, it’s a stretch to call 2000-2006 as years of economic progress, although I’m sure many Dems were as happy with their 401K results and housing values as Repubs.
John #26,
You ssked, “How many of those complaining about American companies outsourcing jobs actually provide employment themselves? Anybody? I didn’t think so.”
Actually, I have owned 3 different businesses and over the years and employed a couple hundred workers, and I definitely see allowing our best jobs leaving for countries endorsing virtual slave labor as wrong.
Do you suggest bring back child sweat shops and doing away with labor laws for our country as a way of keeping the jobs here, because short of that we can’t compete with India and Mexico and China and Vietnam etc etc.
I realize this has become more about outsourcing in general than about Cisco, but we all seem to need a little bit of perspective. Obviously the loss of 700 jobs is painful, but Cisco will still employ 18,000 people in San Jose (and around 25,000 in Silicon Valley) plus they have offices in nearly every state. In comparison, planning on upping their Bangalore workforce to 3,000 doesn’t sound all that crazy for a global company with worldwide sales. So when everyone talks about greedy corporations unwilling to pay for American labor, perhaps we should at least acknowledge that Cisco is not a great example of this.
Now that John G. has let us know that it is all the fault of the government (what a surprise) there is no need for further discussion.
Move along everybody, the show is over.
#23-John Galt,
Give us all a break here. I do not believe for one minute that you would want to live in 1984 novel, nor do I think you’d sit still while your human rights were violated, job or no job, assisting the poor or not.
When your job is outsourced and you can’t pay your bills, or when you or your pet gets poisoned by food imported from a foreign country with lower safety standards, or your grandchild gets ill or injured from a toy or clothing that is imported from a country that has lower safety standards, etc., let us know how you feel then.
President Obama is the FIRST President to say enough is enough when it comes to favoring big corporation tax loopholes and breaks. It is about time someone stood up for America and its citizens!
#25-Food For Thought,
You make a very excellent point! “Fewer jobs would be sourced out from under Americans if the government would put education higher on the list.”
Our country has severely cut education, and has screwed up in that department. But if you look at two of our local School Boards you’ll see that it isn’t just our Federal and State governments that are at fault, it is those who care more about their own power and pocket book that are responsible for our lack of “skilled talent.”
And yes, many Americans can be “lazy, uneducated, self-centered, and just not worth much time and or a chance.” But that can be said of EVERY culture.
Buy and employ American/Americans, keep our country strong! Boycott company products that outsource American jobs~
#26: Since you asked I have 28 employees.
Do I need to add that they all work in the US?
You see, some of us really DO know what we’re talking about!
John Galt,
You are the one that said,“Wiretap me. Fingerprint me. Pull me over without any good reason every so often. Please. Many of us would gladly suffer these indignities rather than being forced to work extra days..weeks..months, in order to pay “our fair share” of the tax bill that “compassionate do-gooders” are eager to impose on us so that the “less fortunate” aren’t taken advantage of.” Not me!
Kathleen: “President Obama is the FIRST President to say enough is enough when it comes to favoring big corporation tax loopholes and breaks. It is about time someone stood up for America and its citizens!”
Obama’s been busy these last 6 months cranking federal spending into overdrive. I want a president to stand up for America and its citizens by letting us live our lives without taxing and spending us to ruin!
Steve & Reader,
So would your companies have benefitted by hiring overseas employees? Was/is that even an option?
So many people deplore the outsourcing of jobs overseas (so do I) but are quiet on the subject of “insourcing” of jobs TO America.
So concerned with working conditions and wages in foreign lands but willing to turn a blind eye to the supression of wages and the consequent lowering of living standards right here at home that is due in large measure to an onslaught of illegal aliens- a problem that Government actually DOES have the power to do something about.
And Kathleen, the main feature of 1984 is a brainwashed public that is blindly obedient to the State and looks to the State to provide for all it’s needs. You know- healthcare, housing, jobs, drugs…
Sound familiar?
#33: To answer your questions: yes and yes.
By the way, the main feature of 1984 was not just a complacent public but a Big Brother who issued the daily media talking points in order to tell people their particular version of political and social truth. (“We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia…”) It’s sort of like the daily “talking points” we hear on right wing talk shows as they can all parrot the same party line. (“Health care reform is really Socialism.” “What’s the big hurry? We need to move slowly.” “The government wants to kill you.” etc.)
It’s all very Orwellian.
Reader, do you mean like the talking points like “the stimulus will keep unemployment below 9%,” “global warming is man-made,” and “no tax increase on anyone earning less than $250,000?” Talking point bullshit works both ways.
OK Reader,
I appreciate your conscientiousness for accepting less profit by paying higher wages to American citizens.
That’s to your credit.
Your “Big Brother who issued the daily media talking points” perfectly describes Mr. Obama. The mainstream media reaches a far greater portion of the American population than does right wing talk radio, and it dutifully and faithfully spreads the propaganda that He supports.
Oh. One other thing.
“The government wants to kill you”?????
Where’d you get that one?
Hmm-m-m. If I didn’t know better, I’d say Kathleen is one of the tax suckers she always sides with. She probably feeds at the public trough. Whaddya think? I think yes.
And yet I notice that Kathleen posts way more than anyone else—and all throughout the work day. Are the taxpaying citizens paying Kathleen to emit propaganda?
How ‘bout it, Kathleen? Why don’t you post your department & supervisor’s name. I’d like to have a little talk with him/her about misappropriation of public funds. We have reams of pages with your time-stamped comments. And the ‘net never forgets.
You can post that info right here.
#35-Concerned about deficits in San Jose said “I want a president to stand up for America and its citizens by letting us live our lives without taxing and spending us to ruin!”
You mean you want the status quo we’ve had under Bush right? It is always the same old thing, it is the President’s/government’s fault for this mess. No President by him, or hopefully someday herself, is ever going to be able to change greed, or crooked politicians that sell us out daily, or corporations that run and ran us into the ground for profit. WE need to change the way WE vote, what WE buy, and WHOM WE buy from! Until such time WE citizens get the change WE desire, WE need to send a message that enough is enough and stop sitting around pointing fingers at the bogyman.
Kathleen #34,
The point that I was trying to make was how often things like eavesdropping, fingerprinting, and collecting personal information on individuals are emphasized as examples of ways that oppressive Governments negatively and unfairly impact the lives of the citizens.
Never mentioned is the very real negative impact that high taxes have on the quality of life of the citizens. To put it in terms that the “left” understands, taxation IS a “human rights issue”.
Which would I prefer? To be subjected to fingerprinting 5 times per year, or to have to work an extra 5 days per year in order to meet my tax obligation. I think I’d choose the fingerprinting.
My hunch is that the “fingerprinting of the elderly” that “Mr. Wonderful” was proposing was an effort to protect our tax dollars and try to see that they are spent on American citizens- not illegal aliens. Unfortunately, since our Dear Leader and the federal government does a lousy job of protecting our borders, State Governments must resort to such distasteful measures in order to protect OUR interests.
#42, Kathleen, do you not have a driver’s license, or did you refuse the thumbprint they now ask for?
#38 John: You ask where did I get ““The government wants to kill you”?
From the same place you got “…accepting less profit by paying higher wages to American citizens. ” I pulled it out of, well, you know…
#37 Garbage: I agree. It cuts both ways. That was my point. Neither side has cornered the market on BS.
Pat,
Of course I do, and your point is what? Please, don’t try to twist the point of these types of privacy violations by the past administration, or Arnie’s intended finger printing by reducing this to Drivers Licenses. It is maddening to see such single minded thinking. There is something past the horizon Pat. The world is not flat or black and white!
Yes, there are times that we must give finger prints to protect ourselves and to ensure authorities we are who we say we are, but being video tapped in public, having private email, and phone calls tapped is just ridiculous.
John Galt,
I see your point now. You were making an extreme example to make a point. Got it.
Our Dear Leader, as you put it, was not running this country when MILLIONS of illegal immigrants snuck in here remember?
I equate finger printing to criminals, something I am not. You might be right about trying to protect taxpayers by doing it, but I find it to be invasive and a violation of my human rights.
Look, I agree, we are being taxed to death, but WE vote these pinheads in John. We need to stop doing that. Republicans and Democrats a like are selling this country and tax payers down the river John.
#39-Sorry Peter,
I am a private contractor and have the right to do what I want, when I want! I am my own boss. Nice try though~
Reader,
I was genuinely complimenting you.
I thought you had indicated to us that you were in a position to outsource jobs overseas but out of a sense of civic responsibility you were opting to keep those jobs here at home.
If that’s the case- good on ya.
#48: And I genuinely accept your compliment! (But your assumption regarding acceptance of less profit is just that, an assumption.)
Reader,
I asked if your company would have benefitted by hiring overseas labor.
You answered in the affirmative.
I guess my only assumption was that you were being straight with me.
#49 John: I was being straight with you.
There are many ways to define the word “benefit.”
Profit is one, access to talent and resources, not to mention customer service, is another.
I could have outsourced some work for less, but the more we studied the issue the more it became obvious that our production and customer base was better served by keeping a state-side presence.
#50-Reader,
Thank you for keeping America strong by not outsourcing and for keeping American workers employed! Bravo!