[LowCountryJoe]

While I agree that in the end, it is ultimately the entrepreneur that creates the job, government policies do have an effect on the job creation environment.

And we're disagreeing where on this one?

I think of it like farming. Soil conditions (or policy) greatly influence what can be grown and the bounty of the yield. Can a fart mer go against bad soil conditions and grow things in bad conditions? Of course. But more likely, that farmer will simply abandon the bad soil and put his efforts elsewhere. Thus, the policies enacted by the government are quite important for the "farming" of jobs.

I thought that when the farmer's soil is bad that they just ask for subsidies and protections...oops, silly me, you were making an analogy.

And as to the loss of phone answering jobs, which you seem to deem inconsequential, these are the type of entry level positions that once taught teens the first principles of a work ethic, allowed folks to work their way through school or allowed folks on welfare to transition into productivity.

I'd like to see some empirical evidence of "phone jobs" being staffed traditionally by teenagers. I don't buy this! Typically "phone jobs" were used to make sales or to answer questions (of varying complexities) about their firms products or services. This skills are not typically possessed by teens.

Teens now turn their noses up at jobs that have had their wages pushed to an artificial low.

If so, the market for labor would correct and wages would increase to attract new labor. Maybe it's older, retired Americans who are willing to perform these jobs while the youth aims a little higher by acquiring some human capital - stuff that will pay off for society down the road (as long as we don't remain so shortsighted).

[radicalamericannationalist]

"Maybe it's older, retired Americans who are willing to perform these jobs while the youth aims a little higher by acquiring some human capital - stuff that will pay off for society down the road (as long as we don't remain so shortsighted)."

If these older folks are in Bangladesh, I fail to see how it helps America.

[ninenot]

Typically "phone jobs" were used to make sales or to answer questions (of varying complexities) about their firms products or services.

Correct. They provided the 'trainee' with a very good overview of the Company's sales, customer base, and operational style, allowing an individual to make informed and intelligent contributions to any of those areas after a while.

Moving these opportunities to foreign countries (or making them dead-end) does not produce useful and productive US workers.