After reading about how Bank of America had to strike verbage from their marketing about why they shouldn’t hire American employees because they cost so much I thought I would take the time to point out some basic business points that international investors may have missed:
1. B of A did the bulk of their early business in the United States. The American consumer was one of the easiest person to market to because they did demand a decent wage, health care, and a better quality of life for their education. These are the kind of people that placed their money in banks like B of A and other banks to help them make money. It is a slap in the face to Americans that are so adverse to hiring the people who helped build them up internationally. What would happen if people start boycotting B of A?
2. India and Pakistan aren’t the most stable places in the world. Yes, they are getting better and they are positioned as global leaders, like China, but for most businesses, do you want to be in a position in the world where some crackpot can wipe out your electronic data or database by a bomb or an inexpensive bribe? It is all well and good to look at acceptable losses on paper if things go south but once it happens in the real world, good luck explaining things to your stockholders.
Some Indian companies have all their data stored on hard drives in non-descript buildings. What is to prevent bribing an employee there any more than an employee here? The difference is here, because we are (or were) well-paid you couldn’t buy us off so cheaply.
3. America still has the land and resources to grow with. Take a look at our land, our water, our forests. We still have a lot of natural resources that will help us in the years to come if we manage them correctly.
4. The American people are very flexible. The reason is that Americans are made up of people from all over the world – India, Pakistan, China, Israel, Egypt, UAR, France, England, Turkey, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Mexico and the list goes on and on and on. Our rates can be pretty competitive and fair compared to the quality of work we put out if we get a chance at it.
5. Good luck getting your product or service working without an American consumer to buy it. The trade-off with keeping salaries and benefits low in other nations is that you end up with a broke, ill work force. There is only so much you can sell them whereas we well-fed, healthy Americans, if cash flush, will buy all sorts of things. What other country or countries are making it profitable to do business in if nobody is buying your goods? If Americans are working because money isn’t invested here, you will need to wait a couple of decades till China, Africa or India get their financial chops up to speed. You as a company may go broke by then.
6. Don’t get me wrong, I have a great love for international business. I just don’t like to see America being bad mouthed by companies that helped get America in the situation that it is in. I am saying that I welcome international investment and am inviting firms to set up shop here. In fact, hire me!
7. Have fun retiring or setting up factories in countries where you can’t go to sleep at night without knowing if when you wake up that a new government may be in power or terrorists have taken out your generators. The U.S. has a great degree of stability for business. Granted, some of our business laws need to be changed but hopefully that will be addressed by Congress and our new Administration.
Okay, I am done ranting. Fire away with your comments. Oh, and if you are having a hard time making ends meet, please check out the link for my book below on Practical Money Making. Peace!
Kim Isaac Greenblatt
Why American Investments Are Long Term Better Than Overseas