Black Box Report

Layoffs are, and have always been, a sad economic reality. But the storyline in recent years of Watson Pharmaceuticals and the like has nothing to do with outdated industry or bankrupt bottom lines. It comes down to how much profit is enough, and what, if any responsibility big business has to our country let alone their community and employees.

First let me dispel any notions, that Watson shuttered plants and handed out pink slips because they couldn't make ends meet. Please - I’ve been through their financials, and even with huge one time capital expenses they made huge profits last year, and are having an even better 2008.

Watson is getting out of Dodge because they can make an even bigger profit in India. Hey - I’m a capitalist, I believe in making a buck. But this pharmaceutical company, like so many other employers across America, is handing out pink slips by the hundreds or thousands because they can find others to do work at a fraction of the cost of the American worker.

It's bad enough to do it not for economic survival, but for even fatter profit margins. What's worse though, is that forget getting penalized; these companies are all but rewarded for outsourcing. Between favorable tax codes and being permitted to set up offshore headquarters, this administration all but congratulates the Watsons of the world when they wave goodbye to the American worker.

In the end, however, people in Carmel, Brewster and Danbury don't care about economic theory; they care about how they'll now put food on their tables. It didn't have to be this way, so if Watson wants to leave America so bad it's time they get a smack instead of a pat on the back.