Outsourcing makes jobless angry

To the editor:

In a recent column, "Economy in good shape and getting better," billionaire Steve Forbes wrote that "crankiness over the economy is utterly unjustified." As someone who dedicated more than 26 years to Doe Run Smeltering Co. prior to having my job outsourced to China, I think describing my emotion as cranky is an understatement. I am angry.

Unlike Forbes and his fellow super-rich CEOs, my family and I have not been recipients of any impressive economic growth. In fact, we have fought to make ends meet. Of course Forbes thinks the economy is good. He and the rest of the top 1 percent in America are getting richer while the rest of us are struggling to get by. But the idea that those of us who have lost our jobs to outsourcing have had overtime pay eliminated and are without health benefits are simply cranky is not only offensive, but another example of the total disregard that the super-rich have for hardworking families like mine.

RON McCLANAHAN, Farmington, Mo.