Dick Codey Takes On Outsourcing

Acting Governor Dick Codey recently signed an anti-outsourcing bill into law after it passed the legislature. Go here, to find the official press release that was given by the Governor's office.

It's suprising that Codey would take such a strong stance on trade, but it often seems that former local officials tend to be rather radical on labor-related issues. However, the language that was used to describe the bill was loaded with anti-immigration populism that hardly represents the opinions of most democrats in the state legislature.

While the bill obviously doesn't stop companies from outsourcing, it outlaws rewarding government contracts to companies that will be distributing the funds overseas, or will be employing non-Americans on the contract. Senator Shirley Turner (D-Mercer) announced that sending jobs overseas not only takes tax dollars away from New Jersey, but prevents tax revenue in the future.

This is simply not true. If a company can yield a larger profit by outsourcing a government contract, they will provide more tax revenue, not less. Although there is something dubious about spending New Jersey tax dollars on jobs done overseas, it's not different from using U.S taxes to give foreign aid, or more specifically, purchase foreign weapons.

Conservatives, liberals, what do you think about this bill?