[sarcasm]

ping

[Pro-Bush]

First America owned the stell industry, then it went to the far east. Second, America became number one in manufacturing, then it went to the far east. IT was dominated by America, now IT is going to the far east. America needs a new golden industry. Biometrics, IT Security, Defense, Genome Tech, Software Dev, CRM, etc are in the up-and-up in America...We'll do fine. We'll outsource jobs equivelent to the the average produce picker. Give it a year, big Corporations will be begging to hire new employees.

[JesseHousman]

The average Indian isn't paying huge taxes to support peace keeping, humanitarian and diplomatic missions around the world. The average Indian isn't paying for the added costs of "code compliance", "litigation", "pension funds" and other hidden taxes on every product that is available to them. The employer side of FICA is often greater than the total wage paid to an Indian. Your house is overengineered compared to an one for an Indian, and to comply to local building standards you are forced to pay large sums of money. Granted the water and air is clean, and the power stays on most of the time, but for that privledge (and to purchase that privledge for the millions who don't pay taxes or utility bills), the American must make himself totally uncompetetive against billions of other people who are not saddled with supporting the world's most luxurious hammock.

[Caipirabob]

All Your Base...heh, heh, heh...

[doosee]

Tackling human resource related issues like employee attraction and retention and high wage cost are some of the internal challenges confronting the IT services export industry.

Not much is reported about this aspect but the Indians in Bangalore and elsewhere are jobjumping like crazy to get raises and promotions. It's a gold rush mentality there. The Indian employers are cheaper than US employers in general re benefits and wages. US companies are being charged $28/hr for project leaders and $20 for programmers in IT for offshore work. The pressures will drive this up.

[JesseHousman]

Check this out:

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/redirect?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theinquirer.net%2F%3Farticle%3D10933

[dennisw]

When do we get to save big on government by outsourcing our worthless hack politicians and their staffs? I know an Indian can do my Congress critter's job better and at one fifth the price. I know Indians can do Congressional staff jobs better and at one fifth the price.

[thtr]

A Gartner report in August 2002 says that 79 percent of large US corporations are currently engaged in offshore outsourcing while the remaining 21 percent plan to do so soon.

100% of large US corporations to engage in outsourcing. And just what is America receiving in return? What markets has India opened to American products?

[mickie]

From Lou Dobb's Friday show:

"Several lawmakers in Wisconsin are outraged by this betrayal. And we want to on this broadcast compliment State Senator Judith Robson (ph). She's urging the state to require customer service jobs for food stamp recipients be located in the state of Wisconsin. And Governor Jim Doyle agrees. He says the only way he'll renew the state's contract with Citigroup is if those jobs are returned to the United States".

Pa. is also outsoucing customer service jobs via Citigroup. I am calling my reps on Monday to complain.

[Hat-Trick]

bump for later reading

[Ronzo]

Let's get one thing straight...those jobs going to India are NEVER coming back. I don't say this just to be pessimisstic, but rather it's a logical conclusion based on the realities of the modern world, plus the fact once any kind of job goes off-shore, it never comes back. If they do come back, it's usually as the employee of a FOREIGN-OWNED corporation.

I'm all for free markets and free trade, but India, China and the rest of Asia plays by very different rules than we do here in the good 'ole USA. In other words, they have governments that actually FAVOR business, often outrageously so. Our government, in contrast, (and I'm speaking of FEDERAL, STATE & LOCAL) does what they can to hinder business via means of regulations, taxes, and just plain stupidity. Many of you may be surprised that the State & Local government regulations & taxes can sometimes be more costly to a business than Federal regulations.

I love having access to low-priced, foreign made goods. But I don't like seeing so many of my freinds and co-workers out of work, many of them now being unemployed for one to two years. Well, technically they aren't really unemployed, just working at jobs that are paying them 10 to 30% of what they used to make. They range from engineers and programmers to graphic artists and accountants. We here in the Midwest have been hit especially hard, and the "recovery," in terms of new high-paying jobs, is still a far-off glimmer on the horizon.

P.S. The last conversation I had with a customer support person was an issue with a Microsoft application that had screwed up. The technician, once you got past the accent, was extremely helpful and had a fix in a matter of minutes. He was also based out of India -- forgot to ask him which city...