[The Old Hoosier]

These moves are short-sighted and will create a whole new classes of competitors in the future.

Which will benefit those of us who buy PC's.

I'm not for keeping a few quaint jobs here in the U.S. at the expense of overall economic development. The money that is ultimately saved by consumers--especially business consumers--through this outsourcing will be invested in new companies and new technologies and will thus create more jobs and real economic growth. To protect jobs that are better sent elsewhere does not help economic growth and is counterproductive.

Besides, IBM offers a great severance package. Some of these programmers--the more talented ones--may go on to start their own businesses with the money, and then employ still others.

[RockyMtnMan]

There's a much bigger world outside the "PC" market my friend. We are not talking about $400 PC's we're talking about multi-million dollar software development/support contracts.

You won't innovate squat without the right talent domestically. It's just a matter of time before some big Indian firm starts competing head-on with IBM global services cutting into their market share.

The IBM'ers that start their own companies will one day have to compete with the Indian firms that IBM itself is creating. Apply your logic to IBM India, when they leave to start their own companies who do you think they'll be competing with?

[dhs12345]

The point is: who will be able to afford IBM PCs if there are few decent paying jobs here in the U.S.?

Other businesses? Those other businesses may be out of business, too because no one can afford their products. And so on...

Consumers drive the U.S. economy. High "Consumer Confidence" carried the economy through the recent downturn.