The giant sucking sound?

Do you remember the 1992 Presidential debate between Ross Perot, Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, where Perot talked about the giant sucking sound made as manufacturing jobs drained south of the border?

The ensuing "globalization" of manufacturing over the last 2 decades has made him look rather prescient, instead of the chicken little he was portrayed as being.

And now, as California limps along with a bankrupt state government and the 2nd highest state unemployment rate, I hear a story on NPR about aerospace industry job growth in Tijuana, Mexico.

The California aerospace industry was decimated in the 90s after the cold war ended, shrinking by as much as 40 percent, has never recovered and continues to struggle as defense spending is cut.

Now that flow of defense money is heading outside of the U.S. Foreign companies on foreign soil are being paid by the U.S. government to produce classified defense systems, while qualified, experienced American aeronautics engineers and manufacturers can't find jobs in the state that made U.S. aeronautics what it is today.

Here's my take away:

The federal government is actively supporting, through use of tax dollars and granting of special licenses from the U.S. State Dept, the growth of an industry in a foreign country that directly undermines the U.S. industry located just across the border, and which arguably decreases U.S. national security, simply because companies can pay a Tijuana engineer less than half as much as one in California. And this is occurring at a time when the U.S. still can't get the job growth needed for people to be able to get back to work.

I may not have all of the relevant details, but based on what I have heard and read, and pardon my language here, this is seriously f'ed up.

I already despise the ease with which our federal government allows private companies to operate outside of our borders, but when those companies are contracted by the government to produce classified components that are part of our national defense technology, I feel it is flirting with:
trea·son
   [tree-zuhn]
noun
1.
the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.
2.
a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.
3.
the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.

Remind me again, just what are the responsibilities of the federal government and our representatives to the American people?