[RockyMtnMan]

Many of those very technologies you mention create thousands of new jobs in the IT space.

The software my company makes reduces the number of personel from one section of a IT department. However the number of new jobs it creates is much larger than those it replaces through automation. The new jobs require more skills and therefore will by higher paying jobs. Those new jobs also create new products and services that can be sold for a profit.

Automations main goal is to eliminate tedious tasks in an effort to create more advanced products and services. The automation cycle gave us the dot-com boom. First came CGI then ASAPI/NSAPI, then JSP/ASP, then J2EE/.NET, now SOAP/WSDL/XML/XSL, and who knows what is next. The progression of technology has built wealth for corporations and IT personel alike.

Very little new innovation will come from the offshoring model, this you can be sure of.

[dfwgator]

SOAP/WSDL/XML/XSL, and who knows what is next.

I do. Aspect-Oriented Programming.

[Tokhtamish]

Only a fool would choose to get a PHD in computer science or electrical engineering now.

So what does this mean for American technological innovation in the future ? When that engine is offshored, when the American technical intelligentsia is decimated, the engine of American economic growth will stop so bean counters can show a good quarter.

[Last Visible Dog]

Automations main goal is to eliminate tedious tasks in an effort to create more advanced products and services. The automation cycle gave us the dot-com boom. First came CGI then ASAPI/NSAPI, then JSP/ASP, then J2EE/.NET, now SOAP/WSDL/XML/XSL, and who knows what is next. The progression of technology has built wealth for corporations and IT personel alike.

I agree with everything you say except "automation cycle gave us the dot-com boom”. The dot-com boom was based on two factors: Y2K technology spending (misinterpreted as part of the dot-com miracle) and pure foo-foo dust investor ignorance/insanity.