'Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas' by CNN's Lou Dobbs

tallahassee.com ^ | Sun, Aug. 22, 2004 | Cecil Johnson

[Destro]

[aft_lizard]

Dobbs needs a new life. This old one is nothing but a rerun after rerun.

[BipolarBob]

This old one is nothing but a rerun after rerun.

But it just becomes more true each day. You haven't refuted his point. Check out GraniteStateConservative homepage here on FR. Remember "Rome wasn't burnt in a day".

[Spackidagoosh]

He better watch out. His parent company AOL\TW ships many jobs over to India.

[Nice50BMG]

Dobbs doesn't seem to understand that its the total failure of the US education system that has lead to Indian outsourcing. The outsourcing in India is not for T-shirts or rubber dog doo, it's for serious knowledge labor that is no longer available from a pot-smoking MTV-watching uneducated US polulation.

As a small business owner with 12 outsourced software programming jobs in India, I am unable to find the talent and team cohesion in the US that I can in Mumbai. Plain and simple.

The NEA wants more money from all of us to continue cranking out dysfunctional idiots who can tell you all day about every social ill imposed on the world by the good people of this country, but they can't write a line of code, a business letter, or even a resume.

It's just plain sad.

Sorry Lou... you're attacking the wrong crowd. Go after the NEA if you want to do some good.

[Destro]

I don't buy that (an educated Indian is thrilled to make 10K a year - educations means nothing - the most highly educated in this economy are unemployed) nor does it answer Dobb's question "India can provide our software; China can provide our toys; Sri Lanka can make our clothes; Japan make our cars. But at some point we have to ask, what will we export? At what will Americans work? And for what kind of wages? No one I've asked in government, business or academia has been able to answer those questions," Dobbs writes.

[Campion]

Dobbs doesn't seem to understand that its the total failure of the US education system that has lead to Indian outsourcing.

You can wag both ends of that dog. I worked my tush off from junior high through graduate school, and have already been laid off once due to offshoring and due to no fault of my own. (The entire office has since been closed.)

The next time it happens, there's about a 70% chance that I will go to some career that may pay much less, but have some job security associated with it. What kind of motivation do you think Americans have to go into these "serious knowledge labor" fields when they risk being tossed aside like garbage at 35 or 40 (or before), in favor of some kid in Bangalore who can work for $2.50/hr? No way would I encourage my kids to get a Comp Sci degree. If they're smart and industrious, let them go into a field where they can have a stable career until retirement.

We're rapidly turning into a society of teachers, lawyers, salesmen, and security guards -- fields you can't offshore. Notice something about those professions: none of them have anything directly do with the production of any sort of exportable goods.

[american spirit]

Sorry, I don't fully buy in to your argument. Yeah, the NEA and the other useful idiots in education have attempted to wreck the whole system but there's still a lot of quality young people who could be trained properly to be very useful for any organization. Too many folks in this country have bought into the media created fantasy about our young men and women, the vast majority of whom are looking to be productive workers, parents and community leaders. The bottom line is the usual culprit.....pure greed and it's been the case since NAFTA, GATT, etc. and the rest of these alleged free trade agreements.

We've seen numerous products offshored to factories paying a fraction of what Americans used to make but as these products re-enter our retail markets, have the prices decreased because of the steep decline of production?....hell no they haven't! In fact, many products being made by virtual slave labor cost more than ever, including clothes, food, household goods, etc. It's nothing more than a massive hollowing out of our middle class and entire economy. So enjoy it while it lasts amigo because this whole charade will not last a whole lot longer. Oh yeah, I've owned a small business for over 20 yrs. and have hired nothing but Americans and I'll be around a lot longer than a lot of these offshore experts.

[Willie Green]

I am unable to find the talent and team cohesion in the US that I can in Mumbai.

At 70¢ per hour (including benefits), no, you probably can't.

[Callahan]

But these Indians are educating themselves at our universities. I think it has more to do with desire. The Indians are simply hungrier. Americans have grown fat and lazy, partially due to our success and partially due to socialism (notice we're not talking about the EU).

[LibLieSlayer]

There is a socialist behind those beady little glasses. This guy is such an ECONOMIC GIRLIE-MAN!

LLS

[Nice50BMG]

I don't buy that (an educated Indian is thrilled to make 10K a year - educations means nothing - the most highly educated in this economy are unemployed) nor does it answer Dobb's question Maybe my point was missed. There is a gulf between the demand for programmers and the ability of our undereducated population to sustain that demand. I can't find qualified workers at anywhere close to a reasonable price. I pay about $110k per year here and about $20k in India. And at that price, I attract great talent there. I'd gladly pay $35-40k for access to local talent, but even that price will get me unwilling, or sub-par talent. The US talent pool does not exist at a reasonable cost for a small business. That's another point. SMALL businesses cannot compete with large corporations without the economic advantage of outsourcing. Some may have missed it, but there has been a significant shift toward small business ownership and away from being a part of a giant corporation. They outsource for efficiency and talent, and so do I. Lou's economic view is becoming more and more outdated, and he is losing touch with the changing nature of business all around the world. Small and medium businesses are becoming more global, more multi-national, and less "nationalistic" in their operations than ever before. I find it interesting that there is often a close connection between the isolationist far-right and the anti-corporate leftists on the issue of global commerce.

[elbucko]

We're rapidly turning into a society of teachers, lawyers, salesmen, and security guards -- fields you can't offshore. Notice something about those professions: none of them have anything directly do with the production of any sort of exportable goods.

You're absolutely right. It needed repeating. We are turning into a UK of about the 1970's.

[Campion]

The US talent pool does not exist at a reasonable cost for a small business.

At the rate we're going, in a couple of generations, this will cease to be a problem.

There won't be a US talent pool anymore.

[Nice50BMG]

I pay the US equivalent of about $7.69 an hour for 10 hours of work per day and I get motivated, dedicated and locally well-paid employees.

[Modok]

Dobbs is a liberal socialist.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Dobbs needs a new life. This old one is nothing but a rerun after rerun.

That's a robotic response, and you failed to refute his position.

I think Dobbs is exactly correct on this.

[Campion]

I'd gladly pay $35-40k for access to local talent

List for me some other $35-40k/yr jobs which require a bachelor's degree in a difficult technical field. A high school teacher with seniority makes that much or more, but he also has job security and two months of time off in the summer. Nurses make around that, but the jobs can't be filled at that payscale and we have to import foreigners to fill in. Many nurses also only work 3-4 days per week.

At $35-40k, I'll gladly send my kids into some other field.

[EagleMamaMT]

Read later.

[Willie Green]

And you're totally bewildered as to why American's can't support their families for the same amount of compensation.