| |
|
What's labor going to do about offshoring? |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
8:44 pm EST, Feb 29, 2004 |
The increasing move of white-collar jobs overseas is inevitable, says one longtime Silicon Valley activist. So the fight for workers' rights has to go global. If your job has been offshored to another country, where someone else will do it for a fraction of your former salary, should you: (a) beg;
(b) rail against the prevailing trend;
(c) get a different, less vulnerable job? Amy Dean has a more radical, if wonkier, idea. Dean: "The obligation of the employee is to constantly keep skills upgraded and keep really current in whatever field that you work in. It also means that the social networks that you're a part of become increasingly important, because they become the vehicle that connects you to employment." Salon: What do you think that Silicon Valley will be like 20 years from now? Dean: "The economy will become increasingly hollow. ... There will be people who are working on the very top end of innovation, and there will be people servicing them, with very little in between." What's labor going to do about offshoring? |
|
Jobs, From Bangor to Bangalore |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
11:37 am EST, Feb 29, 2004 |
It is frustrating to hear people harping about the need for more training and better education. Here's a news flash: because of the diverse knowledge base of each field of engineering and science, more education and training usually means a college degree in another field. How in the world is someone who has to support a family going to go to college while still having enough money to pay the rent and feed the family? Meet the mirror, and ask yourself who is "harping." If the future doesn't fit, create one that does. What do they say about necessity? "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children." "The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd." Jobs, From Bangor to Bangalore |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
1:02 am EST, Feb 24, 2004 |
inignoct wrote:
] certainly we need to take a long look at the kinds of jobs
] we're likely to be able to retain. ... what can we keep? This is the wrong mindset. It's not about "retaining" or "keeping" the jobs we have today. Give them away ... they're already dead. Success will require creating entirely new categories of jobs for which today there is no description. This is the future. At one point in the 20th century, "computer" was an occupation, not a product. Eventually "computer administrator" became a service job. Soon, that too will disappear. This is progress, folks. But do not confuse progress with pleasure. In America, we make money the old fashioned way. We earn it. Theory vs. Reality |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
9:06 am EST, Feb 23, 2004 |
Those dirty words -- "productivity" and "outsourcing" -- are raising Americans' standard of living. Have the politicians on the stump -- so certain that America cannot compete in the new, global economy -- scared you with those words? Is your job really in danger of being stolen by prisoners in China or children in India? Back when unemployment was going up, did you ever hear "it's because people are hopeful and more are out looking for jobs"? I say yes, there are "two Americas." My friends, I've chosen my America. I hope it's yours. My Anti-Stump Speech |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
8:55 am EST, Feb 23, 2004 |
Welcome to the 21st century. The landscape has changed. In light of these changes, we should at least be asking some tough questions about the real-world effects of free trade as we've known it. Workers are the big losers, and the losses are only beginning. Among the questions: ... what happens ... [when] American families [lack] disposable income ... That's not supposed to happen. In theory. "Marge, I agree with you -- in theory. In theory, communism works. In theory." "Let me tell you something, Mike. You're money, and you know what else? You're a big winner." Theory vs. Reality |
|
As More Jobs Move Overseas |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
1:13 pm EST, Feb 22, 2004 |
The new economic pyramid: all top and no bottom. The paradigm change in how the world trades goods demands a new look. Exactly how freed up does labor need to get? It's too late for me. My software engineering position has moved offshore. For so many of the "average Americans" commenting on this topic, the light bulb has only recently become illuminated. It occurs to me that the US would be a very different place today, economically, socially, and otherwise, if Manuel Castells had been read more closely (and deeply) by more people in the 1990's. It is not enough for academics to study and debate the abstract concepts. Corporate executives and practicing professionals must grok it -- and live it. Ideally, Amazon would tell me that "customers who bought 'Good to Great' also bought 'The Information Age Trilogy'. Alas, this is not the case. As More Jobs Move Overseas |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
12:50 pm EST, Feb 22, 2004 |
With 54 percent of India under the age of 25 -- that's 555 million people -- six out of 10 Indian households have at least one zippie. And a growing slice of them will be able to do your white-collar job as well as you for a fraction of the pay. As long as America maintains its ability to do cutting-edge innovation, the long run should be fine. But this particular short run could be a real bear. Time to get real. Consider this the first wave. In the next decade, consider China and Indonesia. (Where is Korea in all of this?) Meet the Zippies |
|
Why Your Job Isn't Moving to Bangalore |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
9:57 am EST, Feb 15, 2004 |
In objecting to moving service jobs overseas, Senator Kerry is wrong on two counts. First, his economics is faulty. Second, Mr. Kerry is making a political error. The fact is, when jobs disappear in America it is usually because technical change has destroyed them, not because they have gone anywhere. In the end, Americans' increasing dependence on an ever-widening array of technology will create a flood of high-paying jobs requiring hands-on technicians, not disembodied voices from the other side of the world. Blame iPod, not India. Globalization needs an Al Sharpton. Why Your Job Isn't Moving to Bangalore |
|
Education Is No Protection |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
12:06 pm EST, Feb 1, 2004 |
"These companies understand very clearly that this is a very painful process for their employees and for American jobs in the short term. But they also recognize that if they don't do this, they will lose more jobs in the future and they won't have an ability to grow in the future." "Companies can still form in Silicon Valley and be competitive around the world. It's just that they are not going to create jobs in Silicon Valley." ... an entire generation of lowered expectations ... Education Is No Protection |
|
|
|---|
| Topic: Business |
2:35 am EST, Jan 25, 2004 |
Fish are for fun, not for food. Fish Market |
|
