Dude, Canada is the 51st state, isn't it?

There are so many flaws with the Drudge thing that I don't know where to start! Seriously, the fact that the company is foreign owned doesn't bother me -- by the standard in the Drudge report any company that doesn't have their corporate headquarters in the US is apparenly "off limits." They have offices in the US, so what's the big deal? I know companies with strong "local" prescences that were started and maintain HQ someplace else.

You gotta pick your battles, and while it makes a good headline, Drudge is reaching this time. What about companies that maintain shell organizations overseas (bermuda, etc) to avoid paying taxes; if all their executives drive around with American flags on their car bumpers, does that make it OK?

Grant. I agree completely. I would like to hear Moore's response, though. He shouldn't have left him self so wide-open for the criticism.

To your point about Bermuda : to me, the location of a company's hq isn't really the issue at all, it's much more complex. It really boils down to where the spent money ends up and into which local economy it goes back into. When I spend my money at *bucks much of it goes straight to Washington State. This is good if you live there.

Then again, I know that it's not that simple. *bucks employs people locally, and that increases consumer spending on some level. But so does the local coffee shop across the street. I dunno. I hate to sound wishy-washy, but I guess I am.

And you don't have to go so far as Bermuda to find tax shelters do you? How about all those "Delaware" corporations out there. Ever been to Delaware? If you tried to put all of the Delaware C-corps inside the state, they wouldn't even fit!

B

Good point about Starbucks; they're the Walmart of the coffeehouse sector. Digio loves Walmart, so I had to get that lil' dig in!

I'm a big fan of local production for local consumption; we're spoiled into expecting fresh tomatoes all year long (instead of just during tomatoe season) and Salmon steaks whether Salmon are nearby or not. It's an expectation that is unsustainable in the long run.

Yes, I do love my occasional avocado -- even though Virginia will never produce an avocado of any merit and they're shipped 1000s of miles to get to me -- but I try to curtail my indulgence in the luxury. All things seem to lead back to CodingSlave and Bob Reselman -- in his interview he mentioned living more simply and enjoying life more.

Grant. Man, we gotta havea beer. I agree, but like Mark, I too like WalMart. They're very good for my local economy. If you know anything about Hampton Roads, you know why. But, WalMart is bad for other places in the country. Am I a hypocrite? Can I have my cake and eat it too?

I do agree with the arguments you guys brought foward, it's a new society problem to debate that will grow larger by the years. As a canadian, i'd like to add some facts to consider in this debate.

Almost all canadian companies are owned somewhere in the hierarchy by US ones, so while encouraging our companies, you are getting money in your own pockets. Second, we do buy a lot of US goods and use a lot of US services, it's called free-trade and it implies that we both trade freely. Sometimes it can get negative for a certain work domain, but in overall, it gets even. (Example : Wood, electricity bring an advantage to Canada but Oil, electronics, Walmart, foods give back the advantage to the US). So in the overall picture, you still have the best part of the deal, outsourcing or not.

You'll have to forgive my poor english, it's my second language.

Also, as a consultant myself, i do understand that outsourcing overseas is a threat to my job, but unlike in India, i do eat enough every night.

Does anyone have any good information on wal-mart outsourcing specifically?

F7hnLA