"It's a shame when the White House top economic advisor says outsourcing of American jobs is inevitable or even that it benefits our economy. Americans know that our country gains when we export American goods, not American jobs," said Nick Lampson, a Congressman from Texas.

It is often claimed that outsourcing leads to increased unemployment within the country. But the facts point to the opposite. Despite huge worries about outsourcing in the last three or four years, U.S. unemployment is currently 5.0%, which is the lowest rate since September 2001. There are more jobs in the US economy today than ever before.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. The idea that jobs are perpetually lost to other places implies that there is a fixed amount of work to do in a country. This is clearly not the case. In order to reduce costs, jobs are offshored to countries where the work force is cheaper. Profits are increased and this capital can be employed in other parts of the economy. Hence, domestic jobs are not disappearing, they're only transforming.

A report by McKinsey Global Institute pointed out that: "A US company earns on an average a net profit of $1.12 to $1.14 by outsourcing work for which it pays $1.0 abroad." The McKinsey report also concludes that a country like India is also benefiting from the outsourcing process. For every US Dollar that is sent offshore India is earning 0.33 USD.

So if domestic unemployment is not affected, business does better and the poor countries get richer, why are some politicians so hostile towards outsourcing? The answer is probably that everyone benefits from outsourcing, except special interests who invest heavily in political candidates. Shaping policy to benefit special interests, though, is bad for society as a whole.