IBM lays off 15,000, HP 1300 [Outsourcing]

The Register ^ | 8/21/2003 | Andrew Orlowski

[Lazamataz]

See, I think whats happening is, the 10% of really rote, redundant, mindless IT -- diddling images, really baseline programming, call-center stuff -- is going abroad. However, if we lose 10% and gain 20% of much more creative and inventive work over the next 10 years, looks like we win.

[Texas_Dawg]

Thre have been massive layoffs where I live. These are college educated, hard working folks who only want a quiet life for themselves and their families. Some of them have invested a decade or so in their educations, and for what?

In Cuba, you are guaranteed a job. Vietnam too. The government assigns you one and you can never, ever be laid off, ever again.

[Texas_Dawg]

You, sir, are an idiot troll. I don't speak to idiot trolls.

So if you don't think we're all doomed, you're a troll? What a happy-go-lucky place FR is.

[warchild9]

Ma'am, get into a conversation with Texas Dawg, and you'll be very sorry. He's the kind of unwashed person who blocks your way on the sidewalk, waving his arms, trying to start a fight.

[riri]

I am already starting to hear about major Indian outsourced projects going belly-up.

On more serious note, my husband recently went to a CPE credit earning seminar. People who were talking about the big American Express (large employer here in Phoenix, financial service industry) lay-off and movement of hundreds of jobs to India. General consensus: it is a fluster cluck of epic proportions.

[dennisw]

dream of electric sheep...


indeed

[A. Pole]

Now that skilled engineering jobs are being transferred offshore, the middle class is in the firing line, and this poses a very real crisis for a large and not-entirely unimportant section of society. Go to college, learn tech skills and - oops, sorry - you're job has just gone offshore. Please accept this redundancy slip and some small token that your worthless (hard-earned) contribution has enriched the global economy. Or as the creepier types insist, the global "eco-system".

Bankruptcy law should be modified so the student loans could be discharged the same way as other debts. There is no way a Walmart employee will be able to pay back costs of advanced college degree.

[Texas_Dawg]

General consensus: it is a fluster cluck of epic proportions.

We're all doomed.

[ladysusan]

Sir, grad schoool is looming large on the horizon. Sonnybuns #1 will finish college in five semesters; first tier school, too. His math SAT was 740. Sonnybuns #2 has a long stretch of grad school ahead of him, as he wants to be a shrink. Entrepenurial Papa has a DE, mama has three degrees of her own.
Sonnybuns #1 will work for Papa for a year or two to see what RL is like, and then go on for the MS, PhD most probably.

Thanks for the educational advice. I totally agree with it.

[riri]

We're all doomed

I am saying the sending of the work to India is resulting in less than desirable results. That probably is bad news to you. You really like the idea of transferring our wealth to 3rd world hell holes. Then you can go there with your little church group and feel all warm and fuzzy and charitable.

[ladysusan]

Ah. Thnak you for the advice. I shall take heed.

The "we're all doomed" remearks aren't terribly funny considering the number of homes for sale on our block. I know many highly educated engineers who are either unemployed or
working tending boilers or some such.

Unbelievably short sighted, simply unbelievable.

[ARCADIA]

Are we all doomed?

No, not all of us, just those hard headed individuals who refuse to hear until it's too late.

This is going to be The issue in 2004.

[sinkspur]

W is headed for $300,000,000 in bribe money, er, campaign constributions, this cycle.

Only an idiot can't make the connection.

No, only an idiot would make the connection.

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

However, if we lose 10% and gain 20% of much more creative and inventive work over the next 10 years, looks like we win.

Wait till the Russians start taking a significant piece of the action. They are very creative. All they need is good stream of revenue from 'mindless' work to support their creativity. I'm afraid that I'm not as optimistic as you are. The Chinese have targetted biotechnology and genetic engineering as the key strategic technology of the 21st century. They are plowing back their surplus (outsourcing) income into developing these fields very rapidly.

[warchild9]

W and the Republicans are in charge, and have been in charge of this fiasco for years. He can stop it at any moment. He's a saint only in Botworld.

[cherry]

well, teachers always wanted to be the best paid employees and I guess they will be, summer vacations and all.....

[Texas_Dawg]

Then you can go there with your little church group and feel all warm and fuzzy and charitable.

Haha. Sweet. Some anti-Christian rhetoric thrown in for good measure. Happy, happy people at FR.

[Sub-Driver]

First the author is biased. Second I'll challenge his facts & numbers. 15K in the second quarter? I missed that announcement.

As to "bungling" the aquistion of PWC, the extra $397M was due to a review of the value of asessts and was in line with accounting practices (unlike some other companies...)

[warchild9]

Six families have lost their homes on my street, and what hurts worse is the restaurants closing because of a lack of business! Ouch!