"Outsourcing aids data thefts, Verizon says"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26990313/

Besides the criminal theft aspect, I've been more than slightly annoyed by offshore outsourcing of my financial information for years.

I think one way corporations could drum up business is charge slightly higher prices, interest rates or fees for their services and keep their customer service totally locked in our country. With some sort of guarantee that they'll never offload to China, India or whatever.

I'd pay a $100 more for a PC if it was all-American tech support. NO question.

No more Habib with his badly-concealed Indian accent passing me on to higher-ups twice to sort out my XBox Live account. No more repeating myself for a half hour trying to get Dell's Hadjis to understand me while sorting out router issues on my dad's computer.

I can't believe no one's done this yet. Of course, the bastard companies would just renege after a while, citing stratospheric costs. And yet, no one can explain to me why taking three times as long on simple tech support calls is cost-efficient.

A Hummer That Gets 60MPG and 0-60 in 5 Seconds?

"Think about it," Goodwin laughs. "A 5,000-pound vehicle that gets 60 miles to the gallon and will do zero to 60 in five seconds!"

Fascinating read HERE.