Angry cries of America's 'outsourced' middle class

The Arizona Republic ^ | 03.09.04 | E.J. Montini

[Beck_isright]

Among those who apparently didn't listen to the 43-year-old unemployed woman whose recorded message was posted online last week by The Republic were Arizona's Jon Kyl and John McCain, along with 24 of their Senate colleagues, all of them collecting fat government paychecks.

[FITZ]

I'm up to page 50, only 49,950 to go..... sure a lot of government regulations for something referred to as "free".

[FITZ]

its going to be quite a long time before customer service can be totally replaced

So we got rid of manufacturing so we could be a "service industry" --- so why are we getting rid of those service industry jobs?

[Beck_isright]

"ONLY to those of you in the public, it is ..."

Wow, I be gettin learned by a professional geek...

"Get over it - you didn't know the difference, you don't now want now to admit not knowing the difference, nor will you in the future make any such admission .."

There you are wrong. I do know the difference. When I call now for an "I.T. Professional" he answers the phone quite politely and says "This is Rashid in Calcutta, can I help you?"

"To you, call centers, customer response centers, 'tech help' desks and organizations that actually do software development are all NOT differentiated in your mind BUT are all lumped in together one in a one-size fits all kind of consumerism-based view of the world called "IT" ..."

I guess literacy was not one of your strong points. By the way, when are you being outsourced to the RNC Official website? (Like this hasn't become that)

"AND it's not all as simple as your repeated attempts to simply say it is are."

It is for people who have consulted in the industry. However, in your case, I can make it simple for you. Rove=God. Bush=Perfection. Kerry=Evil. Clinton=Clinton. I.T. =Cow Worship.

"Communications channel closed."

Gee. What a loss. I just don't know how I'll make it through the night now.

[Beck_isright]

"I'm up to page 50, only 49,950 to go..... sure a lot of government regulations for something referred to as "free"."

I figured the first 48,000 pages would define what "is" "is"...

[SCalGal]

You know, it is REALLY pathetic that we are even having this conversation...and yes, it is resembling 1992...

I don't remember 1992 being this bad.

[Jorge]

Great story. That's the American spirit.

I had a similar experience with a seeming set back in employment that turned into a blessing in disguise.

I had just moved to PA from Florida and need a job right away.

I applied for a tech job, which was my career for 8 years but had to take a much lower paying QA test/inspection job because that was the only job opening this company had.

After two years the company moved and lost that job.

My next job search was brief because the first resume I sent out happened to be to a company that needed someone with QA experience.

It's much better company with better benefits, and where I have been able to advance and make nearly double my previous salary.

But the experience I needed to get in the door I got at that little low paying job I thought was leading me nowhere.

By the way. I've worked my way up from the bottom in several companies during my life, and most of the bosses say that my positive attitude, and good work ethic is what impresses them the most about me.

Many people here don't seem to understand how important attitude is.

[oceanview]

we were referring to automation here, not job offshoring (at least I was). you can't argue against automation, otherwise we would still all be farmers. if American Express were investing heavily in technology to replace their customer service people, at least their investments would produce jobs in the industries providing the automated solutions.

[WFTR]

Oh cripes a libertatrian. Never mind.

LOL I'm not a libertarian, and many libertarians don't like me or my views. In any case, I suppose we'll have to disagree on these issues.

WFTR
Bill

[Arthalion]

This is a good example of technology at work. *IF* the RFID makers are US related, producing better jobs here overall, it's a good thing.

RFID will only create a tiny number of jobs in comparison to what it destroys. It essentially consists of three components: The RFID chips (which are already being manufactured in Asian countries), RFID scanners (also manufactured offshore), and the database software to tie it all together (currently US dominated, but ripe for outsourcing).

I was lucky enough to see an RFID demo once, and it was pretty impressive. The "shopper" had a cart loaded with RFID enabled merchandise and rolled it through the scanner. The scanner read the entire cart at once and calculated the total in seconds (it even made sure that nothing had been de-tagged by comparing the carts weight against its baseline). The computer then read the "shoppers" RFID enabled credit card, instantly billed them, and produced a receipt. The "shopper" only broke stride long enough to pull the receipt from the machine.

Walmart has already directed ALL of their top suppliers to start providing RFID enabled products by 2005, and it's expected that most manufacturers will have RFID support by 2010. Once RFID is commonplace, the need for checkers disappears. They will be replaced with "Checkout Assistants" who will help those few people who have difficulties with the system, but we'll only need about one of them for every 15 registers.

So what's left after we gut the service sector?

[Monty22]

That's why I qualified it with a big 'if'. 'if RFID hired a lot of Americans as builders of the tech, and they upkept it, it would be an advance.

However, it'll be built offshore, after TI and so on did the research work. Our guys will be laid off, and so will the store workers.

The benefits will go to the chinese worker. And the Indian tech support guy. The American store owner will benefit a tad, but the majority of people will get slammed. By far.

[raloxk]

ok, fine but people arent dying in the USA of starvation

[raloxk]

"And why should Dillards hire you to sell shoes when they can get some kid fresh out of college with a business degree to do that?"


"Why should the local supermarket hire you to clerk when they can get a pretty sixteen year old to do that?"

But these two points have always been the case. This is nothing new.

[Clock King]

How else is he going to get a job? I'm in the same boat, but I have sacrificed to maintain my cable modem (gave up cable TV long time ago for the rabbit ears). Most companies ONLY take resumes over the 'net. Paper gets lost.

[Clock King]

Good post. Sounds like the world of "Snow Crash" may still come true.

[Clock King]

What is the revenue stream of the company? Seriously. Who generates income is at best a good guess. Is manufacturing in the "revenue" stream? I was alway taught it was; they were the one who sent invoices and collected the dough. Yet, they were the FIRST to go, over a decade ago.

[Clock King]

I think your company if full of it. His background sounds similar to mine, a hardware engineer with a solid software skillset. He can do you little job, just as I could. You company is so hung up on finding the perfect fit, you miss the forest looking for the trees. There is no way you can't find 400 SW engineers to fill these roles if you're honest.

[FITZ]

It's something like that -- nothing like the US Constitution for sure --- how many pages in that? None of that "for the people, by the people" kind of words for sure.