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Commentary & Analysis: Economists In Denial; Blind To Offshoring's Adverse Impact
Manufacturing & Technology News ^ | February 6, 2007 | PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Posted on 11/01/2007 9:14:14 AM PDT by mustang buff

Many American software engineers and IT professionals have been forced by jobs offshoring to abandon their professions.

(Excerpt) Read more at manufacturingnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS:
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This is a little dated, but explains outsourcing of jobs. I'm educated (technician)and had to take a lower paying job outside my field because I could not find one in my field.
1 posted on 11/01/2007 9:14:15 AM PDT by mustang buff
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To: mustang buff

This must mean it is time again for the we need more software engineer articles to start up again. Anytime a software vendor like Micro$soft talks H1B increases, it means others jobs have been off shored.


2 posted on 11/01/2007 9:18:33 AM PDT by heywoodubuzzoff (:-))
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To: mustang buff

” ... had to take a lower paying job outside my field because I could not find one in my field.”

It is the number one thing about some “conservatives” that I find distasteful, and hypocritical. The lack of concern for Americans and America when it comes to trying to make money. The globalist/free trader will tell you that you aren’t educated enough, or that a different line of work will make you more money if you work at it.

When pressed as to why American companies should employ Chinese or Indians or Mexicans, they say that those people should have jobs too. If you ask them who will die to protect their interests... then being American and a patriot becomes important.

When asked what happens when the American market dries up due to lack of discretionary income, they tell you cheap goods will make up for the difference. WalMart will make it right, apparently. I disagree, even a cheap car is $14k. A cheap house is $80k. Energy and insurance prices are steadily climbing. It seems to me, they really don’t care.

When asked what a business owes America that grew up in America, they tell you nothing. They ignore that a business used American talent and the American infrastructure to grow, and most likely continues to rely on the American infrastructure.

When asked how America will arm and defend herself in the event of an extended conventional war, assuming the Chinese choose not to help us, the answer is unclear. They don’t seem to think it can happen. So, any conflict with the Chinese just won’t happen? It’s unimaginable to them that their supplier would fight with it’s consumer base. But, what happens when that consumer base erodes, or becomes less attractive? Conventional war is much more conceivable. This is one where it seems the globalist just figures it won’t happen, and if it does, they expect they’ll be gone by then. Nice.


3 posted on 11/01/2007 9:30:28 AM PDT by brownsfan (America has "jumped the shark")
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To: mustang buff

Good article...explains all the problems associated w outsourcing.


4 posted on 11/01/2007 9:36:55 AM PDT by UCFRoadWarrior (FantasyCollegeBlitz.com)
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To: mustang buff

“Moreover, in recent years as globalism becomes more pronounced, the U.S. economy is performing less well.”

This guy must have been born sometime after Reagan left office. Since Jimmah left office, the economy has gone up pretty steadily, with a few shallow recessions in 82, 91 and 01. Not only that, but each such recession has been shorter and shallower than the one before it.

Before that, we had some nasty recessions. I would not say that the growth of globalism has made the economy perform less well. The economy is not performing less well. It’s performing better.


5 posted on 11/01/2007 9:46:22 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: mustang buff

1.The US government will not due anything about this.
2.The elites and the socialists like this.
3.The sheeple will wake up only when it is too late.


6 posted on 11/01/2007 9:51:05 AM PDT by central_va
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To: Brilliant
Not only that, but each such recession has been shorter and shallower than the one before it.

That may be true when looking at the broader US economy, but if you work in a manufacturing-related field, those recessions were much longer & deeper.

I am a self-employed manufacturers rep, so I can tell you that my sales were off for almost 2 years longer during the '91 recession. For my company it's "first in, last out" when it comes to Recessions. Incidentally, we're in one now. Sales have been off since May judging by my numbers.

I'm not complaining. Just sayin'.

7 posted on 11/01/2007 10:03:19 AM PDT by Tallguy (Climate is what you plan for, weather is what you get.)
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To: UCFRoadWarrior

Interesting that most of the presidential candidates support free trade, but to who’s benefit?


8 posted on 11/01/2007 10:06:43 AM PDT by mustang buff
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To: Tallguy

Maybe so, but that isn’t how I read the article. He’s complaining about the economy as a whole.


9 posted on 11/01/2007 10:07:09 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Brilliant

Well, I guess that you have to consider the source of the article. It is written for a narrow audience like most “trade journals”. Not familiar with this particular journal, but I recognize the slant from mags that I subscribe to for work.


10 posted on 11/01/2007 10:14:19 AM PDT by Tallguy (Climate is what you plan for, weather is what you get.)
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To: Brilliant

Thanks for bringing some sanity to this thread. Paul Craig Roberts went off the deep-end years and years ago. And while I’m very sympathetic to some of the commenters on this thread, what you are railing against is the natural creative destruction inherent in free market capitalism, especially when adopted on a global level. It is unfortunate, but people growing up in this environment need to be prepared for having a few careers rather than one (as my father had) and being prepared to make those jumps as dictated by the market.

Otherwise, I guess you need to embrace John Edwards and the protectionism that the Dems promise. The workers who manufactured buggy whips got up-ended by new technologies and pretty much every mature business in the US (and all of their workers) need to be prepared for the unexpected.

It’s the new world.


11 posted on 11/01/2007 10:20:42 AM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds ("You ask, 'What is our aim?' I can answer in one word: VICTORY - victory - at all costs...")
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To: Tallguy
That may be true when looking at the broader US economy, but if you work in a manufacturing-related field, those recessions were much longer & deeper.

If you worked making buggy whips at the turn of the 20th century, the recession in that field hasn't ended yet ...

12 posted on 11/01/2007 10:24:56 AM PDT by tx_eggman ("Believing without loving turns the best of creeds into a weapon of oppression" Eugene Peterson)
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To: tx_eggman

Buggy whips... two great minds... ;)


13 posted on 11/01/2007 10:25:48 AM PDT by ReleaseTheHounds ("You ask, 'What is our aim?' I can answer in one word: VICTORY - victory - at all costs...")
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To: mustang buff
The culture of corporate American is becoming really offensive. I can 8understand maximizing shareholder value but increasingly it appears the goal is maximizing executive bonuses. At the expense of everything and everyone else.

I say this as a staunch conservative. I do not, under any circumstances, want government interferance in corp policies, however, much of corpo American is plain disgusting.

Pandering to the greenies; no problem! Pander to the gay agenda; no problem! Pander to PC: no problem! Stick up for Americans; no way!

At some point they are going to kill the middleclass in this country and they can't stop themselves.

14 posted on 11/01/2007 10:27:50 AM PDT by Pietro
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To: Pietro

much of corpo American is plain disgusting.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Too true! Modern corporations are starting to act too much like government, with corrupt management enriching themselves at the expense of the shareholders and employees and with fixed wage scales that pay slacker and superman the same rate regardless of output and promotions going to the best political operatives regardless of competence. Some cases I have seen leave me to think that the only way the management could be worse is if the federal government took over corporate management. The local industry where I work part time appears to be near its end and there are rumors that it has been bled by the top people for years. When top management is paid huge bonuses for losing money it is hard to think otherwise.


15 posted on 11/01/2007 10:42:05 AM PDT by RipSawyer (Does anybody still believe this is a free country?)
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To: tx_eggman
"If you worked making buggy whips at the turn of the 20th century"

Gee, I've never heard THAT ridiculus cliche' before, how'd you ever come up w/ it?

16 posted on 11/01/2007 10:47:52 AM PDT by Pietro
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To: mustang buff

First, the U.S. is a net exporter of computer hardware and software, so that if we were to go protectionist and the rest of the world retaliated, more Americans would lose their jobs (actually, be forced to shift from jobs they do well to jobs they don’t do so well) and nobody would get back a job in the industry.

As it is, production nowadays in this industry and many others involves an increasingly global supply chain, with people in many different places doing the parts of the overall job in which they have a comparative advantage.

Second, production in the industry in the United States has now rebounded from the bursting of the dot.com bubble. The bogeyman wasn’t out-sourcing. It was the surprising and disappointing bursting of the bubble. During the 1990s, the industry got ahead of itself, and there had to be a correction. Unfortunately, many decent, hard-working people - both producers and investors - took a hit.

Third, employment in the hardware side of the industry has been flat (due to increased productivity in manufacturing), and employment has largely recovered in the software side of the industry.

Bottom line, Paul Craig Whatshisname was wrong and we economists were right. Check it out for yourself:

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06423.pdf

>>>I realize that we economists are taking on Lou Dobbs on this issue, and that we will probably lose this one. You can look it up, we didn’t win the debate on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff either. But, it is important to set the record straight so that we will again be able to say “we told you so” when we are proven right and the protectionists are proven wrong when they mess the global economy.

Some recent economic news: GDP up 3.9%, unemployment 4.7%, longest uninterrupted string of months of growth in payroll employment in history, inflation low in spite of problems in energy prices, and the federal budget is fast moving to balance. Somebody has to be doing someting right.


17 posted on 11/01/2007 11:08:50 AM PDT by Redmen4ever
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To: Pietro

Thanks to steadily putting money into the stock market, ignoring the ups and downs, I am now a millionaire. I own a home free of a mortgage, my car is paid off, and I pay my off my credit card every month. And, yet, I’m just an ordinary Joe with a defined contribution pension plan. Corporate America has done alright by me because when I have been making money, I’ve saved a good fraction of my income. As for executive bonuses ... if the Yankees won a World’s Championship recently, who would begrudge Joe Torre’s $7.5 million per. What I don’t like are executive compensation plans that reward executives when shareholders aren’t profitting, and I hope we shareholders can do something about them. Oh, I should mention, I’ve twice lost my job (which I realize is fewer than most people), and once exhausted my unemployment benefits. So, I’ve “Looked at love from both sides now.” Republicans should be smart enough to know that there are ups and downs in life and you have to plan accordingly. Democrats are the ones who live hand to mouth and complain when they can’t refinance their sub-prime mortgage to pay for their year’s vacation because the value of their house hasn’t doubled yet again.


18 posted on 11/01/2007 11:22:55 AM PDT by Redmen4ever
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To: Redmen4ever
"I am now a millionaire"

Good for you. So now you can honestly say screw everybody else, I've got mine!

I'm concerned that our children will grow up in a less optomistic economy because our corp leaders continue to eat the seed corn.

But hey, you'll be OK.

19 posted on 11/01/2007 11:36:17 AM PDT by Pietro
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To: mustang buff

My concern is almost everything we buy now is Made in China.

And more and more we find they are screwing us, lead painted toys, adulterated foodstuffs, and the like. Corner cutting at every turn.

We can’t trust the National Name Brand companies to use US raw material. Kraft uses Chinese wheat gluten and probably other stuff, Most of our Vitamin C and vitamins come from China. What’s happened?

It only take one MFGR. to move to China, lower their prices , and others in the industry move to stay competitive.

One day we are going to say ‘enough’, but guess what?
We no longer have the capacity to make our own products. We closed down all our manufacturing years ago.

Have you gone to one of those ‘Made in America ‘ websites?
Ninety percent of the things actually made in America today are not everyday items.

Years ago the argument was ‘ send the manufacturing off shore ( it was Mexico back then) and we will do the IT, technical and service industries’.

Now the IT, and technical sectors have gone offshore and illegals do the service.
What’s left?

One day we are going to rue the day we made these decisions.

( one little aside, I take Vytorin, Merck Labs, for cholesterol. Where is it made? Singapore.)


20 posted on 11/01/2007 11:38:13 AM PDT by Vinnie (You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Jihads You)
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