Cypress' TJ Rodgers speaks on politics, offshoring, and Republicrats

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[This is one of the most interesting interviews I've done in a while. 
The full text is worth reading and has better formatting (click on the 
link). --Declan]



http://news.com.com/2008-1006_3-5215272.html

Chip off the block
May 18, 2004, 12:33 PM PT
By Declan McCullagh

Unlike your garden-variety Silicon Valley CEO, Cypress Semiconductor's 
T.J. Rodgers is not shy about speaking his mind as an equal-opportunity 
critic. Over the years, this plain-spoken entrepreneur has publicly 
skewered sundry political and industry figures he believes to be 
peddling humbug--and that includes lobbing verbal bombshells in the 
direction of both major political parties. Along the way, he's taken on 
the likes of Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton and Larry Ellison.

For his day job, Rodgers is the founding CEO of Cypress, which 
manufactures more than 400 types of integrated circuits, with an 
emphasis on products useful in communications applications. Included in 
its product line: microprocessor clocks, embedded controllers, static 
RAM modules and USB chips. The company reported $254.4 million in 
revenue for the first quarter of 2004, with $26.5 million in profits.

CNET News.com recently caught up with Rodgers to get his take on the 
controversies over the expensing of stock options, offshore outsourcing 
and the business climate in California for technology companies.

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Q: John Kerry is denouncing "Benedict Arnold" CEOs who send jobs 
overseas. Is it moral for American companies to increase their overseas 
outsourcing?
A: It is immoral for any CEO not to run his company in the best possible 
financial way for his shareholders. I used to hold Kerry's naive view of 
the "all American" company, meaning all jobs in America. That was a 
foolish mistake on my part, and it cost my shareholders a lot of money, 
until I moved our entire assembly and test operation and several hundred 
jobs offshore in 1992.

You're talking about your Philippines operation?
Yes. To me, it's simply wrong to trash the retirement funds and the 
college funds of my shareholders so that I can wave the American flag 
and talk about keeping jobs in America. We do make all of our chips in 
America, because it's the right thing to do. Americans are good at that. 
A great majority of our engineers are in the United States also, because 
they're the best engineers we can find.

Do you do your chip manufacturing domestically because of worries about 
intellectual property?
No. Our engineers are chosen on merit, period. And we therefore have a 
mixture of design engineers who are two-thirds American and one-third 
offshore. A stronger driving force is serving customers. You need to 
have designers in every market in the world you serve so that they can 
make the stuff those customers want. There are local differences.

Some AFL-CIO activists are pledging to make the offshoring of technology 
jobs a campaign issue this fall.
The AFL-CIO has been promoting losing economics causes for years. Other 
than the government members of the union, the AFL-CIO has lost pretty 
much all of its membership over the last few decades. The AFL-CIO 
consistently promotes economic policies that harm its own members.

By that you mean lobbying for short-term benefits at the expense of 
creating long-term problems?
Yes. Exactly.

You want to eliminate corporate welfare, including for the 
high-technology industry. In 1999, you told Congress the way to do it 
was simple: Put all pork barrel projects in a single package, and hold 
an up-or-down vote. Everyone ignored you.
They're not serious at all about eliminating corporate welfare. It's one 
of the most sacred parts of our government system.
The Democrats also accuse the Republicans of cozying up to business. I 
made my first call to eliminate corporate welfare to the then-new 
Clinton administration. And I was never treated with more hostility than 
by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California, and Democrat 
Herbert Klein from New Jersey. Both of them were condescending and 
insulting--beyond just disagreeing with me. Corporate welfare is a 
sacred cow for the Democrats as well as the Republicans.

Why do so many people living in Silicon Valley seem to support 
Democrats, even when they are the more regulatory of the two major 
parties? In Palo Alto, Mountain View and San Jose, there are two 
registered Democrats for every Republican.
Two big influences are Stanford University and the University of 
California at Berkeley, both of which are institutions that pour out 
very liberal graduates into our society. A second point is that it's not 
always true that we vote liberal. Ronald Reagan was our governor and a 
very good one.

What's your opinion of Arnold Schwarzenegger?
I think his $15 billion bond offering is really screwed up. But I think 
that he's trying to do a good job, and I think he's honest.

Are you planning to vote for President Bush in November?
I haven't heard what John Kerry's got to say. I've read a lot of ugly 
stuff about him. I don't follow campaigns. I don't give money to them, I 
don't listen to them--they're a waste of time. Ordinarily, it would be a 
knee-jerk reaction for me to vote for an incumbent Republican, but Bush 
has done a bad enough job that I'll look at all the candidates and make 
a decision.

Based on what?
The Republicans are supposed to be a party of free trade and economic 
freedom. Bush has been one of the worst free-trade presidents we've had 
in a long time. He is a big spender who makes Bill Clinton look like a 
penny pincher. I doubt that I'm going to find Kerry to be a viable 
alternative. This year, if the Libertarians put up a non-nut, I may end 
up voting for a Libertarian.

[...remainder snipped...]

http://news.com.com/2008-1006_3-5215272.html
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