"No one knows what will replace these jobs," (DU Economist) Clouse said.
Finally, an honest economist.
I've got four scenarios:
1. Gloom & Doom - Massive foreign outsourcing (and h1b/illegals/etc.) leads to massive U.S. unemployment, less tax revenues, massive debt & foreclosure, banks failing, ending in a huge worldwide economic depression. Prison will look like a free ride.
2. Downward ratchet into Socialism - Dem's pick up on problem and propose more welfare & assistance, job re-training, bigger gov't, etc. Move towards the England/France/German model.
3. Outsourcing fails - pool of overseas software development talent not quite as good as anticipated. Many big bets by big corporations on big projects fail. Economic advantage turns to strategic threat (strategery, I love that word). Many big corps bite the dust.
4. A New Economy Emerges - American entrepreneurial spirit emerges as thousands, millions of new small businesses emerge, making America a great place to live. These form the basic business dynamic for the rest of the century (hey, a guy can dream) (note to self - entrepreneur is a French word - oh, my, goodness).
Here's my new term for scenario 1 (you heard it here first!) - Middle-Class Holocaust.