Bill Pearson Visits Harvard

Today I was lucky enough to attend a lecture given by Bill Pearson at Harvard. Pearson, a notable figure in the world of outsourcing and offshoaring, explained what exactly the economic ramifications if offshoaring are.
The United States has, especially since the dawn of the internet, outsourced work to foreign countries. South Korea and Singapore--two of the first major outsourcing nations--have developed economies that rival the first world, despite having been among the poorest nations several decades ago. Today China, India, and Pakistan are the major centers of outsourcing. Now, we in the West hear quiet a bit of complaining. Liberals will tell you (despite the Toyotas in their driveways) that Americans are suffering because of cheap Asian imports. A liberal will probably also tell you (despite the clothing he is wearing that was produced in China) that buying imports from Asia is usually immoral because they pay workers almost nothing! Of course, this liberal will forget that the only reason we in the West can pay high wages is because just a few generations ago we had Lowel Mills and other cheap labor sites.
Don't get me wrong--plenty of conservatives believe a serious problem exists because of these cheap Asian imports, especially in the automobile industry. I for one would prefer to drive an American car. Michael Savage has commented on several occasions that foreign automobile companies are hurting the United States. But are they really? Yes, Ford and GM are suffering. But is it fair to blame that on Asia? The quality of American cars really was below that of Japanese cars a couple decades ago. Today the difference in negligible. Perhaps that's why Ford and GM are starting to do better.
Why did American automobile companies have sub-par products? Well, maybe because, despite the American tendency to idolize capitalism, the low amount of competition meant they didn't really need to produce the best cars. Once competition from Japan came, American automobile companies had to adjust. That's why capitalism works. If a company is not giving the consumer what he wants, the consumer will find someone else to go. In the case of Ford and GM, that happened to be Japan.