The Jobbing of Americans

Insight Magazine ^ | July 3, 2003 | Paul Craig Roberts

[Myrddin]

Individual sales to the public also look soft, simply because people are spending scared money now.

I could really use a truck here in Idaho, but I'm not about to pony up $20K to $40K with the tenuous employment situation. My boss and I are continuously fishing for more work. It comes in chunks of $40K to $200K at a time. We have a staff of 9 people that we are trying to keep fully employed. The current work backlog won't last until the end of the current calendar year. Our customers are all in the U.S. and the work we do can't be economically relocated to India. As you have noted, even long standing business relationships are getting strained. Our customers love the quality of work that we do for them. We've saved them mountains of money. Still, they are very short on cash this year. We can't save them money on projects that they have no money to even initiate.

[Myrddin]

Here's a ploy for you. The government was offering all sorts of incentives for minority and women owned businesses. A local travel agent who was very talented, but was handicapped by being a white male. He found a solution. He bankrolled a minority woman into a travel agency business. She didn't have a clue about how to run the business, but provided the "hook" to the government gravy train. It was a business marriage of convenience. Both parties benefitted. I learned this information first hand from the guy who started the business. He was our "official" company travel agent for a couple years.

Following that "model", you might be able to cobble up a business marriage of convenience that would allow you to "hook" the special treatment for foreigners by offering your expertise to set up the business.

[MEG33]

HuH?What about my statement denied this?How did my statement deny that the economic downturns and adjustments,layoffs and change of educational needs in the market place would not be a time of turmoil and pain?The buggy makers who hung on in spite of the automobile's popularity were left with no jobs eventually.The buggy makers had to learn new skills.What is your solution to the fact that we no longer make things to sell overseas but we consume lot of goods from overseas?If a widget can be bought overseas cheaper...people buy the cheaper one.Who are the Robber Barons and how do you propose getting their wealth is going to cure the problem?What exactly do you propose?

[Victoria_R]

There is a great quote from Peter Drucker:

"Years from now the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. Rather it is the unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time, substantial numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it. Throughout human history, it was the super-achievers-and only the super-achievers (such as Mozart and Da Vinci)- who knew when to say "No." They always knew what to reach for. They knew where to place themselves. Now all of us will have to learn that."

In response to the posted quote:

Actually, I think saying "no" or people managing themselves was forgotten when Dr. Spock told parents that to tell their kids "no" was bad for the kids' self-esteem.

[The Red Zone]

Even when it comes down to machines, it's better to have the machines here. Machines in India or China or even Canada are subject to the whims of world politics. Also, someone has to engineer, build, install, and service these machines and that probably can't be all mechanized for a long, long time.

[The Red Zone]

Oh, and in some countries they won't want machines. India's cultural philosophy is that as many people as possible should have a job no matter how menial.

[The Red Zone]

Actually, I think saying "no" or people managing themselves was forgotten when Dr. Spock told parents that to tell their kids "no" was bad for the kids' self-esteem.

For any finite being, yes to something within their reach always has to mean no to something else that would be within their reach.

[staytrue]

You wrote "We are either at the gateway to Hell, or about to enter the Garden of Eden. We are approaching that fork in the road rather quickly now, and arriving with us will be the Marxists, who will have their own ideas about which way lies Eden or Hell."

Dickens wrote just prior to the French revolution:
IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way

It seems that we have gone down this road before. I think eventually, market forces solve the problem. There may be a violent revolution thrown in, but in the end marxism will fail as it always has and free market economics will win out as it always has.

[garbanzo]

For without a planned system reset we shall have chaos, aggravations and bloodshed.

There's a good chance we'll have that no matter what we do - the surplus labor is not going away in the near future. On the other hand, we can retool our educational and social system to produce the kind of productive workers of the future instead of the industrial era educational system we have now.

[garbanzo]

My point was that even menial work may be able to provide a more or less frugal living. And you can always find some sort of menial work - if it's nothing more than cutting someone's yard for a few bucks for a few weeks. If the cost of goods is low enough that might have to be all the work you need to do.

[garbanzo]

So most of the population simply settles into a meaningless burger flipper job, and we culturally adjust to the change. I really don't see that happening.

Well it depends - is a burger-flipping job enough to make a living if the price of goods falls through the floor? The problem is a cultural one rather than an economic one - in the sense that middle-class culture looks down on such "stand-up" work as opposed to the "sit-down" work it sees as its birthright.

On another note - what exactly is the problem with burger-flipping jobs? We want burgers. We need people to cook burgers but we decry burger-flipping jobs. We don't want immigrants to have them, we don't want natives to have them but we still want burgers...

[Cronos]

That's a very insightful point. I think the developing countries in Asia would be developed at least by 2030 (Singapore, Korea are considered developed, correct? And they took a few decades). The problem would not be with these societies. China and India won't go against the US because it's their biggest market. The real problem will be with the failed countries like in the Mid east and Africa.

I think Bush is doing the right thing by going into Africa. And I don't think he'll be a one-term Pres, no matter what the 'rats on this board think. BUSH for 2003

[Cronos]

The right attitude. The days of jobs for life are gone -- even in Japan. I think Yankee ingenuity if removed from the unionized, 'rat, socialist mindset will see people getting more wealthier. Don't forget that these companies which are shipping abroad are owned by Americans, their shares are held by folks smart enough to know where to invest. The profits come to America. Don't forget that.

[tm22721]

The rage on FR (FRiendly forces) is an early indication that this (and the rising cost of healthcare) will be Bush's Waterloo.

BUMP

[Cronos]

Bingo. The way we 'worship' lawyers is sickenin', I remember that show Picket fences which I detested but it showed what's happening to america -- our medical costs are sky high and many doctors are quitting their jobs because their insurance is too high because lawyers have stiffed them with malpractise suits. Now they want to sue Mcds etc. We've got too much govt and the ideas put forth by some of the ppl on the posts here ask for MORE govt. That's NOT america. We became the most powerful nation on earth because of less govt. not more.

[jejones]

You'll see action in this regard when lawyers start finding their jobs being outsourced.

[snopercod]

Thanks for the informative and well-reasoned posts.

I've been out of work for 10 months now. All the factories in my area of North Carolina have closed down except one, and they're boxing up their equipment and moving to Mexico soon. The unemployment rate is close to 15% here.

Thankfully, my wife has a full-time job at the local hospital, so we're hanging on. But we've definitely dropped out of the middle class.

[jejones]

Thanks for a very insightful post. I'm reminded of George O. Smith's Venus Equilateral stories; they posit a very similar situation, induced by the invention of a replicator machine.

[marbren]

About the only ingredient that we are currently missing is a charismatic leader to spark a change.

That leader is coming.

[JesseHousman]

Are you trying to tell me that the reason companies are moving jobs overseas is because of immigration ?

No. Only that Tancredo is one of the handful of worthy congresscritters.

Immigration does have something to do with it when you realize that our goobermint issues visas by the carload to Chinese and Indians who are here to learn the service sector jobs so they can return home leaving their tutors jobless.