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2009 was filled with economic turmoil, but economists worldwide project 2010 to perhaps be even worse. We've lost hundreds of thousands of jobs within the United States, not to mention job losses overseas, and given the economic crisis, employers continue to lay off employees.

Most Americans do not fully grasp how exactly we've managed to end up in such a chaotic situation. Some believe we've simply imported more than we've exported, while others blame irresponsible lending on behalf of the banking and credit issuing agencies. Both are true to an extent, but the economy is a complex system, and trying to determine the exact cause is difficult. One major factor, however, is the lack of employment opportunities needed to stabilize the economy.

There simply are not enough "wellpaying" jobs to go around. To many of us, the cost of living has increased so much that we need to work two jobs to survive. This pattern of working multiple jobs with a lower rate of pay contributes to the rise in unemployment. If the costs of living were to decline or the rate of pay had increased, then perhaps more employment opportunities would also become available. Still, Americans who work more than one job are not the prime cause of our nation's unemployment levels. To understand why there is a large shortage of jobs, history is critical.

During the 1980s, U.S. companies ventured out, looking for new ways to increase productivity while also cutting costs. The answer to that dilemma, business leaders quickly found, was outsourcing jobs to third-world countries, paying workers as little as possible for large amounts of work.

This "money-maker" quickly had manufacturing plants jumping for joy. The idea of making hundreds of millions more per year in profit consumed corporations throughout the U.S. They, inevitably, sold their souls to the devil.

Today, outsourcing has become so commonplace that not only are manufacturing jobs being outsourced, but also customer service, accounting and tax-preparation, content writing, research management and engineering jobs as well. It has become so absurd that a newspaper in California wanted to hire a reporter in Calcutta, India to report on the Pasadena City Council by watching it over the Internet.

Most businesses' outsourcing jobs have agreements with the manufacturers in these countries, as well as with the country itself. These agreements help to ensure workforce stability while also allowing the president or prime minister to become wealthy from the slave labor of the citizens of that country.

The treatment that these workers receive is considered highly unethical by U.S. workforce standards, but many of these people have no options because there are no other jobs. They are doing what they must to survive. Despite their working conditions, they dare not protest the unethical treatment endured for fear of being fired.

When companies outsource, they don't just hurt the U.S. economy; people working in these centers are hurt too. Most third-world countries have no labor laws to protect citizens from immoral work practices. Supporting these companies only contributes to the abuse of workers and adds to the sharp decline in our own nation's employment.

Now, a person with intellectual curiosity may be thinking: if all these corporations decided not to outsource, surely the current economic crisis would not be as disastrous. Of course, they would be correct. But then, corporations are in business to make a profit, which is priority number one, and a company cannot be moral or ethical when their main objective is to increase profits.

The only way the U.S. can avoid further damage to the economy is by finding ways to supply the American workforce with jobs. That may involve providing companies that hire Americans with incentives like a "tax-free" year, or it could involve penalizing those companies that outsource jobs by increasing their taxes by 45-60 percent.

Outsourcing American jobs is to blame for much of our economic distress. Punishing corporations who take advantage of overseas workers can only help us prosper at home. It's not only the patriotic thing to do, but also the moral and ethical solution.

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