Lou Dobbs is right. So is that cartoon engineer Dilbert: We have to do something about the trend of American jobs going overseas. I realized this as I was inspecting the new data center in New Delhi for my U.S. company, Insituform Technologies, Inc.

With 2,500 employees, Insituform Technologies may not be the largest company in America, but we clean water in 40 countries using dozens of currencies and 80 pieces of intellectual property. The demands on our information technology are intense.

In addition to paying all the taxes, adhering to local regulations, and monitoring currency fluctuations, we have to track equipment, materials, and labor from our 100 crews that measure productivity and daily costs around the world.

As demand for clean water has grown throughout the globe, so has our business. Last year in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency reported 73,000 sewer leaks. Many more go undiscovered and therefore unreported.

As our business grows, so do the needs of our data management operations.

When we learned we needed a better system, our first choice was to develop and run it here in America, but that didn’t last long. We discovered that transferring our data operations to India would not only give us the same capability for less money, but we would also have resources left to upgrade our system’s sophistication, reliability, redundancy, and security.

So we replaced the nine employees in our information technology department with highly educated professionals half a world away that make $9 an hour.

It was not a popular decision in or outside of our company. From Dilbert to Dobbs, many critics see outsourcing as proof positive that corporate greed is ruining the country; transforming America into a nation that does nothing but “take in the world’s laundry.”

For us it is not about profits, but survival: Either we slash costs and improve productivity, or our customers will either have to eat the higher prices, or find someone else who offers services at a lower cost.

As I walked through our data center, I saw not only a possible future of America, but also its past.

The people working for us are highly educated and highly motivated. For many, it is the best job anyone in his or her village has ever had. They all dream of having more responsibilities, more skills, more money—and they all have a fierce desire to do what it takes to get them.

The combination of work ethic and entrepreneurship struck me as what Americans must have been like 100 years ago. The world seemed open, bright and full of opportunity for those with the desire to take it.

This is the spirit that made America the most prosperous nation in the history of the world. The attitude Indians learned from us and embrace with enthusiasm now seem to frighten many in this country.

It is ironic that 25 years ago, the Indians embarked on this course by discarding socialism, lowering taxes, and encouraging trade. They learned this from us too. Now we must learn it all over again from them.

Not being competitive is not an option for our company—or our country. In our company’s case, we may be laying off nine employees, but we are hiring at least 30 more.

In India we are not just transferring work, but finding new customers. We spent time talking to the water authorities there about cleaning up the holiest yet dirtiest river in the world, the Ganges. And we held similar talks with customers and suppliers in Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, and other parts of Asia.

As these countries grow, so does their demand for goods and services that we in America can provide better than anyone else in the world. But this will remain true only if we are willing to recognize what our value is and, above all, if we are willing to become fiercely competitive in order to provide them.

No one can make guarantees to any American company, at home or abroad, other than this: If we do not compete and make our products and services better, faster, and less expensive, we can and we will lose.

When President Kennedy met Prime Minister Nehru, he told him about the educational benefits the Peace Corps will have in India. Nehru replied, “Yes, I’m sure your young people will learn a lot.”

Those young people are now running the country. And it is time we start learning. Dilbert and Dobbs are right. We have to do something.

And that something is get better.

In The Fray Contributor