NAFTA IN REVERSE

Years after our august politicians implemented NAFTA which proved Ross Perot correct that "the vast sucking sound are U.S. jobs going overseas," the weekend of 9 and 10 January, 2010 provided an interesting experience.

Granted, customers of either American Express or America On-Line frequently get frustrated that when calling the customer service departments at either above corporation in whose name 'American' is prominently featured wind up speaking to some underpaid corporate person somewhere in the third world.

Well this past weekend, while trying to get a new 32" LCED television to work, we called the customer service number of their manufacturer; SANYO, a Japanese manufacturer of consumer electronics. While we had to call them three times for the same issue which remains unresolved, we spoke to "Issac," "Bernard" and "Emma." We got chatting with these three people as we waited for the integral computers in this television to upload data.

SANYO, a Japanese manufacturer, has their call center in South Carolina. Yes, South Carolina; the land of the philandering governor, the state to the south of North Carolina, and the state from which US Sen. Jim DeMint hails-he being the senatorial zealot who is single-handedly holding up the confirmation of a new chief for TSA.

Will somebody explain to me why a Japanese corporation can have their 800-Call-Center operation based in the United States, while companies such as AMERICAN Express and AMERICA on-line cannot? Please explain it loudly, as that "vast sucking sound" of American jobs going overseas continues.