US' brain drain is India's brain gain - SAIRA KURUP: The tide is turning.....
SCHADENFREUDE !
A couple of observations:
1. " If I had to pick a single reason, it would be a sense of belonging: to this place, these people." -OK Dilep, if you loved your country so much how come you abandoned it to strike it rich in the U.S. in the first place. Let's call a spade a spade. You are a greedy opportunist who would go anywhere to benefit yourself. Your allegiance is to you.
2. I was watching a movie with Bob Hoskins this weekend called "Long Good Friday". It was made in 1979. At the end, Hoskins' character gives a 5 minute soliliquay on how Britain is on the way up and America is on the way down because Britain is filled with visionary entrepreneurs and the U.S. is filled with narrow minded cowards. Well, we all know what happened over the next twenty years after that. We keep hearing this in every generation. The one problem with these predictions is that they assume the U.S. goes into a coma over the next 20 years and does nothing to react to the competitive forces. Since when has that happened?
3. Final observation: When we do truly become global, corporate or sector allegiance will become as strong as national allegiance was in the 19th century. People will move around the globe to fill positions where they are. What is interesting is how the U.S. already has been making that happen here for the last two decades. Soon, the Indians and Chinese will demand equal pay with Americans doing the same job. The competitive price advantage will disappear. Then the Indians and Chinese will learn that they will have to compete at home for jobs against Australians and Americans. To get skilled professionals, a universal language will be adopted. Guess what? Its going to be English. In the years to come, when the playing field is truly leveled and everyone gets paid similarly for similar skills (which they will eventually demand), Americans will come out on top again because we have been selectively bred for courage, self-starting, ingenuity and motivation. Remember, everyone there who dared to dream ended up here.