In today’s Wall Street Journal, Craig Barrett and James Moore cut through the heated political rhetoric about “outsourcing” and get right to the heart of the problem—a misunderstanding among some Congressional leaders on how jobs actually are created. In fact, they say, if the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act rejected by the Senate this week ever became law, job losses would accelerate and even more companies would relocate jobs overseas.

In their column, “Outsourcing and the 21st-Century Economy” (subscription), Mssrs. Barrett and Moore explain that companies outsource for two reasons:

The first centers on the nature of the global. In today’s world, outsourcing can save companies money, reduce the time it takes to deliver products and services to customers, and provide access to skilled employees unavailable in the U.S. Outsourcing also allows companies to capitalize on incentives offered by foreign governments to attract investment…

The second reason U.S. companies outsource is that our own government pursues policies that drive investment and job creation offshore: excessive taxes, needless regulations, lengthy permit processes, a decreasing supply of U.S. citizens with technical and engineering degrees, and a general governmental misunderstanding of how to support private-sector jobs. For example, taxing new U.S. corporate investment at 35%—when the world average is just over 18%—pushes U.S. companies to invest offshore to increase return to shareholders.

They go on to argue, “Politicians who accuse the business community of being solely responsible for the loss of U.S. jobs are disingenuous at best and urge legislators to “recognize the competitive nature of the 21-st century world economy.”

Manufacturers could not agree more. In fact, NAM’s Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and Competitive America sets out a roadmap for policymakers. On tax policy, rather than looking at ways to punish worldwide American companies, lawmakers should lower the corporate tax rate, provide a permanent and strengthened R&D credit and advance fair and competitive rules for taxing foreign income of U.S. companies, all changes that will make the U.S. a better place to do manufacturing.

From The Associated Press, “States to establish uniform standards for teaching“:

SUWANEE, Ga. — By third grade, students should know how to write a complex sentence and add fractions, no matter if they live in Georgia or California.

Eighth-graders should understand the Pythagorean theorem. And by high school graduation, all U.S. students should be ready for college or a career.

That’s the goal of sweeping new education benchmarks released Wednesday called the Common Core State Standards, a project that aims to replace a hodgepodge of educational goals varying wildly from state to state with a uniform set of expectations for students. It’s the first time states have joined together to establish what students should know by the time they graduate high school.

The Common Core State Standards were developed and unveiled today under the leadership of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The news release about the event in suburban Atlanta is here.

Steve Rohleder, head of the Health and Public Service Operating Group for software manufacturing-company Accenture, was a panelist at the roll-out and he made a point that reflects the real concerns of employers in the United States: 

Any person in the global community today will tell you that what keeps them up at night is the war for talent. The U.S. is losing our competitive advantage and the way to regain that is based on the standards we put in place. I really believe that we have to do something that is bold and innovative. (continue reading…)

The National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Department of Commerce will host a program Friday, “The Voluntary Standards System: A Dynamic Tool for U.S. Economic Growth and Innovation,” the first in a series of events with government and industry leaders to educate new policymakers about key topics related to U.S. competitiveness, technology deployment and jobs.

Shaun Donnelly, senior director for international business policy, is carrying the ball for the NAM, but there will be plenty of manufacturers on site, as well, including top people from Boeing, Deere, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm and other industry leaders. Panelists will discuss how the voluntary standards system is helping to spur development of Smart Grid, health care IT, cyber security and critical emerging technologies. And jobs. Good jobs.

The conference agenda is here. Ambassador Donnelly has agreed to report on the event via Twitter, so follow his comments (and others) at #volstand.

Jeff Moad, executive editor of “Managing Automation,” notes investment plans by United Airlines, Intel and Exxon Mobil to urge manufacturers to prepare for recovery. In a blog post, “Manufacturing Out of the Recession,” he writes:

Such moves are certainly not without risk. True, the tide of bad economic news is slowing. But 345,000 more unemployed in the U.S. in May and a 9.4 jobless rate, plus many billions of toxic liabilities (these are not assets) remaining on banks’ books make it hard to predict when a turnaround will occur and just how rapid or robust the recovery will be.

Still, now would be a good time for manufacturers to begin to change the capital-preservation-at-all-costs, bunker mentality that has dominated over the past 18 months and position themselves for recovery.

How?

• Do some bargain hunting of your own.
• Rethink global supply chain risks and opportunities.
• Position yourself to continue to benefit from the efficiency gains you’ve put in place over the past 18 months.
• Create a real workforce development plan

With more details at each bullet.

Managing Automation’s blog is The Edge Blog.

For more evidence why planning for recovery is not completely quixotic, see the last news release from the NAM’s chief economist, David Huether, “Huether Says ‘Storm Clouds Are Starting To Part‘”

We’re doing our part. Today, we created or saved one job. By coming to work.