(CBS) The
following is a weekly
60 Minutes
commentary by
CBS News
correspondent
Andy Rooney.
President Bush is running
into a lot of criticism
these days over his decision
to allow an Arab company
called Dubai Ports World the
rights to run six of our
biggest seaports. Dubai is
capital of country called
United Arab Emirates. Don't
ask me what an "Emirates" is
and don't ask me to put my
finger on Dubai on a map of
the world, either.
Dubai will be paying almost
$7 billion for the rights to
run our seaports. It isn't
clear to me why it's worth
that much to them or how
they plan to get their money
back. Nothing about this
deal is clear to me.
A lot of Americans are
involved, considering that
Dubai Ports World is
supposed to be a foreign
company. The head of it has
been an American - a Yale
graduate named Ted Bilkey.
Several of his assistants
are American. For all we
know this is a business deal
put together by Americans to
make money by using Dubai as
a front.
A lot of Americans have
complained because they
think that having another
country run our ports in New
York, Newark, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, New Orleans and
Miami could be a security
risk.
Well, security isn't what
bothers me. What I don't
understand is why the hell
can't we run our ports
ourselves? Is it too hard
for us? Aren't we smart
enough? Sometimes it seems
as if we aren't doing any
real work ourselves in this
Country.
Most of our clothes are made
in China. More and more of
the cars we drive are built
overseas. About all we make
in the United States these
days is money.
The credit card companies
are using people in India to
do their customer service
business. If you call them
with a problem, you get
someone who speaks English,
sort of, but she's sitting
in New Delhi.
Too much of our work is
being what they call
"outsourced." "Outsourcing"
means having it made in
another country. What's the
matter with doing it in our
own country?
Have we lost our ability to
do anything for ourselves?
Why don't they outsource The
White House, or outsource
Congress. Get some really
smart people from other
countries to run our country
for us. A congressman gets
$162,000 a year and all he
can eat. I'll bet we could
get some natives of Dubai to
do the same work twice as
well for half the price.
I hope CBS doesn't decide to
outsource
60 Minutes.
They'd probably replace me
with someone from Dubai,
Anwar Rooney, who'd do what
I do for a quarter of what
they pay me.
