The Outsource of Confusion - When jobs go, we grow. [Pro-Outsourcing Article]

National Review ^ | 02/04/2004 | Bruce Bartlett

[reformedliberal]

My hairdreser is self-employed and she makes double what her husband makes in his factory job. She is so successful, even though there is a ton of competition, that she takes no new clients and hasn't for years.

My husband is a licensed massage therapist w/a full practice comprised of marathoners, triatheletes, MDs, RNs, PTs,chiropractors, their referred patients and their families. Even though he charges less than some others in a competitive field, he makes about 50% above the median income. Except for having to pay our own health insurance, his costs of doing business are quite low. At some times, he is booked solid 3 weeks ahead.

I invented a product in 1985 that sells well to a niche market. I have some part-time hired labor, but otherwise, I do it all. Several snotty sales reps have told me they would have my product made overseas when I couldn't meet their requested discounts off wholesale and other demands which would have not been profitable. Hasn't happened, yet and 2003 was my best year ever. I keep about 75% of the revenue and am slightly below the US median income. There are times during an average year when my turn from order to shipping is 2-3 weeks, due to demand. I sell mostly wholesale. I do some massage, as time allows.

As to what to teach the youngsters, how about electrician, plumber, heating/air conditioning contractor? These are not going to be outsourced and are very lucrative businesses. If these kids are bright and good students, try medicine, including nurse practitioner, physician assistant, physical therapist.

BTW, when we went back to school in 1994, after 20 years as successful artisans making jewlery and woven clothing (market destroyed when the Dems rolled Bush I on taxes, gutting loopholes that kept crafts galleries alive), we had a choice of IT or massage therapy. We escaped being IT workers by a hair and are very happy w/our career choice. We were 51 & 43 at the time. We did not get loans and we kept our crafts business going for the 18 months it took to get the education, pass the board exam and establish a practice. I kept my craft manufacturing business because I didn't want all our economic eggs in one basket.

We both intend to keep working as long as we can, perhaps cutting hours or production so we can travel again.

We are both voting again for GWB.

[reformedliberal]

Absolutely true. The job of a good money manager is to look ahead to foresee these markets. Mine has and I appreciate it.

[searchandrecovery]

He's the ultimate fintstone.

ClintonBeGone is the ultimate asclown.

[chimera]

As to what to teach the youngsters, how about electrician, plumber, heating/air conditioning contractor?

A nation of electricians and HVAC technicians is not likely to be a world-class military, economic, or technological power. Sure, they're all good and fine trades, but a broad-based economy is best for fostering the kind of environment that innovates, builds, and grows.

If these kids are bright and good students, try medicine, including nurse practitioner, physician assistant, physical therapist.

Again, all honorable service professions. A little weak on the R&D side, however. There are a few MD types doing research, but not many. I was part of a research group looking into treatment modalities for glioblastoma multiforme, a particularly refractory form of brain tumor. We had some neurosurgeons on the team but the only one who was any kind of scientist was from Japan. The US neurosurgeons were more like neurocarpenters, more interested in mechanical techniques for obliterating a tissue mass than solving the problem from a systemic approach, which, given the broad-based nature of the malady, was what was required.

The point is, a purely service-based economy is not one likely to be vigorous in producing new and better industries. Remember, none of us would be here doing what we're doing now (using a computer on-line) if a team of scientists working at a US research laboratory had not developed the semiconductor electronic device that replaced the vacuum tube. The transistor was invented by a team of physicists, not cosmetologists. Similarly, the superheterodyne circuit, the developmental basis for all modern wireless communications devices, was invented by a EE, not a hairdresser.

[steve8714]

Depending on which point on the revenue/marginal rate curve you are occupying.

[steve8714]

better look at Latin America, they seem to be on the increase...of course, elements of the Church have helped.

[A. Pole]

The transistor was invented by a team of physicists, not cosmetologists. Similarly, the superheterodyne circuit, the developmental basis for all modern wireless communications devices, was invented by a EE, not a hairdresser.

I wonder what inventions will be made in China and India when those countries become the world center of technology. Possibly they can surprise us, after all they were leaders in the past.

[blowfish]

It certainly is an emotional issue, and I understand the turmoil IT people are going through. But I don't think anyone should dismiss the very real possibility that such happenings are good for everyone in the long run.
Except that as you contine to dismantle our technological base, you degrade our ability to spawn 'the next big thing'. The explosion of internet-related technology didn't spring out of nowhere. It sprang out of the minds and labor of countless technically skilled people who were part of a thriving computer industry. As you ship more and more IT jobs out of the country, you decrease the likelyhood that you'll have an enthusiastic, technically creative workforce that will *allow* such industries to arise in the US.
But hey, maybe The Next Big Thing will be a new way of flipping burgers or greeting Walmart customers. Then we'll be in perfect position to seize the opportunity!

[Mr. Bird]

It may not be flipping burgers, but one of the problems about contemplating the Next Big Thing is that everyone just assumes it will spawn from the head of a programmer.

It is quite plausible that the Next Big Thing will merely be a new use for current technology (information or otherwise). After all, the "internet" was certainly the Next Big Thing, but the real economic benefits came from the creative people who figured out how to use it to make money.

Will we watch a movie 30 years from now and laugh when a young man is told the future is in "computers", just as we laugh now when Dustin Hoffman is told about "plastics" in The Graduate? I mean, are we so centered on IT as the boom industry that we fail to see opportunities elsewhere?

[chimera]

But hey, maybe The Next Big Thing will be a new way of flipping burgers or greeting Walmart customers. Then we'll be in perfect position to seize the opportunity!

Hey, don't give these globalists any ideas. They'd probably cheer on such an outcome. A new "job" for the Ph.D.'s in condensed matter physics that are forced to work at Wendy's and Mac's: figure out the optimum closest-packing arrangement of the fries as you stuff them into the box or packet. You can get the Ph.D. in chemical engineering to calculate the optimum mix or water and chemicals as he's mopping the floor at KMart. Tell the weapons designer to use his skills down at the local beauty shop to redesign all those hairdryers. But, hey, its the "free market", and these people have only themselves to blame for choosing the wrong career. Who cares if we lack the intellectual capital and infrastructure to be a world power in military and technology capabilities? If the "free market" tells us to give those people the boot, we must do it.

[blowfish]

It may not be flipping burgers, but one of the problems about contemplating the Next Big Thing is that everyone just assumes it will spawn from the head of a programmer.

Like I said, it might be a revolutionary new form of grocery bagging.

After all, the "internet" was certainly the Next Big Thing, but the real economic benefits came from the creative people who figured out how to use it to make money.

Now this comment is so far from reality that I just have to laugh.

Take Amazon, for instance. You think their success is just due to some managers scheduling meetings and pushing buttons in some VisualBasic application? You know how many software engineers have pulled allnighters and given up weekends to make Amazon succeed? You think Amazon could have just contracted that all 'unnecessary' technical stuff to Bangladesh?
And at what point do the now booming technology industries in India and China realize that they've reached critical mass, where they have all the skilled workers and sharp minds they need to be the source of the innovations as well?

[Quick1]

Yes, he also said that no one should ever need more than 512K of RAM.

[1rudeboy]

Thus the use of the word "excessive," but I understand your point.

[1rudeboy]

Yes, but Microsoft survived.

[1rudeboy]

If that was the case, then real wages would be dropping for Ph.D.'s. And they're not.

[1rudeboy]

If that was the case, all of these "lost" tax payments would show-up in government revenue figures. And they're not.

[Mr. Bird]

No, what I'm saying is that all indications are that the technological expertise needed to make Amazon move is becoming commodified. And as long as people in IT keep doing their jobs, they will continue to commodify themselves.

I recently purchased software that will cost my business $20,000 a year. And because of it, 2 of our techies making around $40k will be looking for work. Where's the brotherhood of techies? They've been putting non-IT people out of work for years, and now they're doing it to themselves. It's progress.

[blowfish]

They've been putting non-IT people out of work for years, and now they're doing it to themselves. It's progress.

Sure, and countries have destroyed their technological bases and declined in economic power throughout history. That too is progess.

[William Terrell]

If that was the case, all of these "lost" tax payments would show-up in government revenue figures. And they're not.

But obvously, for the jobs that have left our shores, the foreign workers do not spend their money in all these places. Therefore the lack has to show up as less government revenue.

Show me your numbers.

[1rudeboy]

How about you show me yours first? I am especially interest in a break-down of tax revenue lost due to out-sourcing. Good Luck.