Greenspan urges education [about offshore jobs]

THE WASHINGTON TIMES ^ | March 12, 2004 | Patrice Hill

[expat_panama]

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan yesterday criticized the "alleged cures" that political candidates are proposing for joblessness

[expat_panama]

  "Job insecurity is understandably significant when nearly two million members of our work force have been unemployed for more than six months," he said.

But would they have been willing to be unemployed if they had not been paid to sit at home?

[lelio]

Rather than trying to stop the trickle of jobs going overseas, Mr. Greenspan said Congress would better serve the public by ensuring the educational system is geared to supply Americans with the best training to compete in the global labor market.

Trickle of jobs? Anyway, the youth market has voted on this and has decided that its easier to make money by going to law school versus engineering. Who says kids aren't smart?

[KC_Conspirator]

This has nothing to do with being "better trained". It has everything to do with cheap labor.

[Glenn]

But would they have been willing to be unemployed if they had not been paid to sit at home?

Just how much money do you believe they are "paid"? No one that I know is getting rich on unemployment (which is an insurance, by the way).

[chachacha]

Congress to help Americans get and keep good-paying jobs is to improve their math and technical skills

The NEAA will try and fit this in between Condoms class and social engineering.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Mr. Greenspan apparently is unaware that American IT and engineering professionals with degrees and 20 years of experience have been forced to train half-dozen Indians for 8 months to replace just one American. If the American does not comply, he loses his severance pay.
This was done by Bank of America and reported by the San Francisco Chronicle last year.

It is Mr. Greenspan who needs training.

[lelio]

Just how much money do you believe they are "paid"?

I'm in one of the highest "paid" unemployment insurance (good point about this being "insurance") states and it was 1/4 of my former salary. Yeah, I was living the high life and was whooping it up.

Anyone who brings up this is out of touch with reality.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I am in a position where I look at a large number of resumes from job applicants. Indeed, the gap in time since their last job is getting longer and longer....and some will even admit to you that they decided to milk it until unemployment ran out.

[expat_panama]

#4   ..unemployment (which is an insurance, by the way).

There is some truth to that, in the same way that our social security taxes are 'contributions'.  In both cases the only choice on our part is whether or not we wish to accept the charity after others have been forced to pay for it.   

Hell, I'm not proud-- I'll take all the social security money I can (if I can) just as I accepted unemployment until I got rehired.  We're talking percentages here, and the longer unemployment 'insurance' (can I please change my policy) lasts, the more a percentage of workers will hold out.

[TXBSAFH]

Greenspan is cracked.

[Glenn]

the more a percentage of workers will hold out.

You're making "class" arguments. The IT workers losing their jobs (which seem to be the workers the article speaks to) could not stand to accept only UI for very long. Their obligations are greater than the token they are paid. Furthermore, they are ambitious, no doubt.

[neutrino]

If foreigners were to retaliate, we would surely lose jobs,"

Really? Like our "trading partners", China and India, already have?

Free trade is merely a globalist scheme to transfer jobs and wealth from the U.S. to the third world. How sad that so many good people have been deceived!

[Lael]

The European Union instituted sanctions against American companies last week in retaliation for the tax measures, and other countries might respond in kind to the new protectionist measures, Mr. Greenspan said.

So, instead of listening to this "Andrea" Hubby, why didn't ANYONE ask the OBVIOUS...how the H*LL do we MONKEYWRENCH so called "free" trade???

[Walkin Man]

Greenspan meant to say that Americans need to get an education in how to live in a cardboard box under a bridge while paying for this extravagant lifestyle on a dollar an hour or less.

Oh and by the way, you won't be able to collect Social Security until the age of 110.

Ain't "free trade" grand? /sarcasm

[expat_panama]

#11  You're making "class" arguments.

Ok, I'm a bad guy making bad arguments.  Now we can leave 'me' out of the discussion and get back on topic.  

There are hard measurements made to count who's working and who's not-- and how much they're getting paid.  I can even give you the links.  Hard data are good for making business decisions that require economic forecasts.  The observable fact is that more people are working now than ever before, and they're making higher wages than ever before.    OTOH, observable data are not so good for winning political arguments (have you ever met a one-handed economist), but that would be off-topic too.

[Glenn]

Now we can leave 'me' out of the discussion and get back on topic.

You're joking, right?

You made the observation/accusation. Now you want to disconnect?

[findingtruth]

Although "new-job creation is lagging badly" for the moment, he said, the best way for Congress to help Americans get and keep good-paying jobs is to improve their math and technical skills so companies won't be tempted to outsource to better-trained workers in China and India.

There you have it. The reason companies outsource is there are not enough American workers with the math and technical skills for the jobs. Same argument goes for H-1B visas.

The obvious solution, as Greenspan points out, is to start educating American children in these skills so that when they grow up they will be able to get jobs -- assuming, of course, that they are willing to move to China and work as slave laborers like the Chinese.

But then, that's what capitalism is all about isn't it? Besides, think of how the American consumers will benefit from decreased labor costs!

Maybe some of you unemployed engineers out there should write Greenspan and tell him he's full of s***. Send a copy to the Washington Times and your congressmen.

[expat_panama]

You made the observation/accusation. Now you want to disconnect?

The problem with so many freepers is that they don't know the difference between an argument and a quarrel.   Or maybe they do know the difference but the know they can't win the argument so they choose to win the quarrel.

Saying "You're making "class" arguments" is different than saying "your argument is a class argument". 

Or maybe I'm just being hard to get along with-- at any rate, we're getting off topic.

[EdReform]

BTTT for later...