April 11, 2004

Silicon Valley Divided Over Electoral Issue of Outsourcing

-- As the executives of Silicon Valley gear up for the electoral season, there is outspoken opposition to Senator Kerry's position on outsourcing, the growing trend of farming out white-collar technical jobs to lower-wage countries like India and China. Senator Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, promises to remove tax incentives for businesses moving jobs overseas.

Marc Andreessen, Netscape entrepreneur and supporter of previous Democratic election campaigns, believes that outsourcing, by reducing costs, increases the productivity of American companies, creates jobs here and contributes to the growth of other countries. His latest venture, Opsware Inc., helps companies manage their outsourcing programs.

He sees Kerry?s position as one that sends ?an anti-business message?.

Other executives, however, call Kerry?s stand a balanced one.

?All Kerry is saying is: 'Let's stop wasting taxpayer money to give incentives to take jobs overseas,' ?said Steve Kirsch, who founded InfoSeek and now runs Propel Software.

To contact an M&S representative immediately, please select from the options below.