Posted on 02/01/2003 11:27:51 PM PST by FightingForFreedom
Wages will not equalize between U.S. and foreign countries for a very long time, if ever. The problem is supply differences. The 100 million or so American workers are vastly outnumbered by the potential number of Chinese, Indian, and other developing nation's manufacturing and knowledge workers. The standard of living differential is also too great. The balancing act for U.S. and multi-national businesses that are outsourcing our jobs is to make sure they don't kill the golden goose (the American consumer) before they've generated an even bigger goose to take to slaughter in China, India, and other targeted markets. Remember, producing cheaply means nothing if there's nobody to buy the products. And no one has been as well-trained as the American consumer to buy, buy, buy, no matter how much in debt one becomes! As a software engineer, I've seen this problem coming for at least 5 years now, but it was well masked by the artificial high-tech bubble through March 2000. I'm not sure that there is an answer at this point -- the genie is out of the bag, so to speak. Once one company in an industry has convinced the govt to open a market in one undesirable country or other, all other companies with which it competes are forced to do the same. Bottling up the genie is notoriously difficult.
Nope, in the old Soviet Union, people were assigned apartments, the prices wre kept down, and they were dreadful for most people.
Enjoyed it, even if we didn't make a dent in any thick skulls. Over and Out.
That's the flip side of ignoring the multiplier effect of money in an economy.
The "static analysis" or zero-sum economics was traditionally the realm of liberals, wherein the only way for one person to make money was to take it from someone else. It appears the globalist neo-cons have adopted a similar theory regarding labor costs, seeing only the short-term benefits, while ignoring or rejecting the long-term negative effects on an increasingly consumer-based economy.
All Company C employees are now unemployed. One employee each from Company A and B are unemployed. Company A and B have cut gross revenues in half (assuming the lower price for a similar commodity didn't expand the market). There is a net decrease in GDP from Companies A, B and C. There is also less money paid to employees in the local economy.
Outsourcing is wonderful as a means to reduce consumer prices. At the same time consumer prices are being reduced, the number of consumers with disposable income is also being reduced.
I live in a small town where many large companies with high salary jobs have opted to close. The housing market is depressed with over 600 large homes on the market. Small businesses are closing at the rate of about 25 each month...no customers. I saw a small clock shop at the mall this evening. They were packing up inventory. The rent of $1170/month was too high for the available traffic. The floor space was about 50 ft across the front by 60 ft deep.
I still have a viable job in the software industry because I know how to take my skill set and devise methods to save a business lots of money. I do this only on condition of an NDA that prevents the business from stealing my concept and passing it to some offshore shop. The idea is the money saver for the business. In exchange, I expect to be paid for the value of the savings realized by that exchange of intellectual property. In general, that means I get the implementation business. The current practice seems to be oriented to stealing the intellectual property that provides the cost savings, then farming out the implementation to offshore workers. That is theft. The offshore workers don't have the advantage of a first hand presence to spot the cost savings. W.C. Fields had it right, "Never give a sucker an even break and never smarten up a chump." You must guard your intellectual property and ensure that you are paid for it.
I am aware there was no pornography in the Old Soviet Union, and no Britney Spears or rap either, as those things weren't around yet, although pornography was underground where it should have stayed.
I think there are similarities in that our society and media is becoming more restrictive (except morally of course), freedom of speech is dying out, products have become junk, housing is becoming unaffordable, people are losing their connection to God, among other things.
The GOP doesn't like to criticize business. They want to be a friend to business. That is why you will find very few Republicans willing to say to business owners, "Stop hiring immigrant labor for $4/hr. Hire Americans and pay them the federal wage. Don't be surprised if they do not stick around more than a few months without med/dental and 401K".
Well you'd be stupid to do such a thing, now wouldn't you?
Hey, as a kid in 70's and 80's, there was only 1 tv in our house. Today, I think that means you are poor. There was also 1 car, which mom and dad worked out use of. Just a little schedule jostling, and things ran smoothly. You are really poor if you only have 1 car to many nowadays.
What people classify as poor today is not even close to real poverty. Not being able to buy your kid a laptop is not poor. It's normal.
Yeah, but most banks now put on many fees, unless you go the ATM route. Plus, there are only ever 2 working at the same time.
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