Posted on 01/29/2003 2:06:28 PM PST by ex-snook
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:16:35 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
The New Global Job Shift The next round of globalization is sending upscale jobs offshore. They include basic research, chip design, engineering--even financial analysis. Can America lose these jobs and still prosper? Who wins? Who loses?
The sense of resignation inside Bank of America (BAC ) is clear from the e-mail dispatch. "The handwriting is on the wall," writes a veteran information-technology specialist who says he has been warned not to talk to the press. Three years ago, the Charlotte (N.C.)-based bank needed IT talent so badly it had to outbid rivals. But last fall, his entire 15-engineer team was told their jobs "wouldn't last through September." In the past year, BofA has slashed 3,700 of its 25,000 tech and back-office jobs. An additional 1,000 will go by March.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
The government has a choice to protect its citizens or its business operators. Maybe a country operating under 'perfect economic laws' might choose that route but we have a political democracy. Where it is the greatest good for the greatest number and the long term ends on election day.
Just as all those investors in the Nasdaq were convinced that the laws of economics had magically been repealed.
Is it really new? Whole industries moved from Europe to the Americas in the previous two centuries for the same reasons they are moving away now. Lower labor costs, fewer regulations, etc. This seems like normal business cycle.
The real question is this - is this trend going to be a national security concern. ie will we be able to sustain critical defense industries and a prosperous economy with an adequately educated population to keep ahead of adversaries? If this is recognized as a concern then some action will get taken (critical industries are already identified), otherwise the trend will follow the natural economic course.
More to the point, what recourse would you or SGV have if that happens? One big advantage that overseas contractors have is that they are not subject to US law, US lawsuits, and their assets are not seizable by US lawyers. This may be a BIG factor in their competitiveness -- they don't have to worry about complying with EEOC regs, or anything else
Yes that exodus. Then the manufacturing people were told to retool and learn computers. Now with the dot bomb and H1B where goest the exodus. Retailing was where the jobs were but now McDonald is reducing and the blue light special at K-Mart has dimmed. The only growth seems to be in government or contracts and/or payments from government. "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" is taking on new meaning. But then again we voted for our leaders. "Conservatives" done gone.
Absolutely. Software creation is not just typing in some code. A program is a tool that lets people do business. Figuring out the business process is the real value adder.
It's already happening, and not just for corporations but also for the personal data that they are sending overseas.
A tiny amount of backsheesh in India will get a private eye or a rival corporation access to everything that's been outsourced to places such as China, India, and Taiwan.
The 3rd world has a very informal way of doing business, and as such, the lower-level workers will reveal supposedly "secure" data in exchange for a few coins.
They won't because here there's a massive government handout programs or safety net that gives them a nice lifestyle even if they have no jobs, they don't have that back home.
In the global economy who pays the taxes to maintain our giant government which has decided to protect multinational corporations instead of the American citizen? Who pays for the welfare programs for all the "displaced" workers? In this city alone 14,000 jobs were lost to NAFTA and the former employees are still here but now living off the taxpayers ---what happens when there aren't enough taxpayers?
We should pay attention to our standard of living and unemployment rate. If we maintain or improve our standard of living, then this appears to be a good move for everyone.
From a more "conservative" point-of-view, we DON'T want welfare and unemployment to become attractive choices for the complacent and lazy. I'm much more concerned about how we fairly treat an IT employee that is being laid off. I thoroughly believe in "assistance" up to a reasonable point. If you can't find a job in six months, you're probably commanding more of a wage than you deserve in the market. I've got a few buddies that have been unemployed for over a year and they gripe about not being able to replace their $100,000/year IT job with an equiavalent. Guess what, the companies got fed up with paying your salary and shipped your job to India. It's time for you to accept a more reasonable wage or find a new trade. Capitalism demands evolution. You either evolve or you'll become extinct.
Interesting point. I get concerned when we are comfortable shipping "all" of a sectors jobs out of the country, as we become too reliable on "foreign" source. Take manufacturing for example. If we really needed to be self-sufficient at some given point and could not "plan" for the occassion, how long would it take us to be ready?
You'll know we're done for as a socialist nation the day we start outsourcing our military intelligence and manufacturing.
Let's review that point in more detail, shall we? What's currently being exported are the upper-middle-class jobs (IT, financial analyst, accountant, engineer) that produce the income that produces the tax revenues that hold up the glorious Welfare State.
IIRC, the top 5% pays over 50% of all federal income taxes. What happens to all those government programs when LOTS of middle-class people take a financial hit?
Government is a parasite. It can only survive as long as its host (the private economy) is healthy. If the host dies, the parasite has a problem.
The top 5% pay most of the income taxes. If they take a hit, the revenue that government needs to pay for stuff goes away
The big question then becomes: Where will you be on the day the welfare checks don't come? And will you have enough ammo?
That would be a pretty nifty deal if it wasn't such a lie. It works in some instances, but definately not all.
China is example number 1 why this is wrong.
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