Re: Does Outsourcing Piss you off?

Jim Blair wrote:

Because our exports to China are expanding at a slower rate than their
exports to us.

But the trade balance with any particular country is not what matters.
Remember during the late 1980's it was the US trade deficit with Japan
that many worried about? Who worries about that now?

The situation is different now. In 80s new highly paying jobs in IT started
to be created. Now, we don't have anything anymore. WalMart and another
retail store are not productive businesses. We need to invest in order to
produce something, to be able to pay back. But this is not happening.

The REAL concern with the US trade deficit is not "China"; it is
"petroleum". Oil does not appear in the trade picture because the data is
presented on a "country-by country" balance and we import our oil from
many different countries. (the biggest being Canada).

Just a very good reason to finance huge research centers in alternative
energy. Just a very good reason to pay scholarship for layoff engineers to
go in energy research.

But this is not happening, we waste money in tax cuts for oil companies.
This is one of the most idiotic decisions a president took in US history.


Manufacturing jobs (depending on how defined) have been leaving Madison
for decades.

But now beside manufacturing we are losing IT, research and everything else.


???? Expanding exports to lower wage regions has been going on for
centuries. Maybe even since Adam and Eve (so to speak).

But always until now, the cutting edge and research was kept at home.
Now is different.

Your prediction?

I say that real US family incomes have been increasing in the "long run"
with short periods of decline following each recession. The minor decline
you cite is the after-effect of the last recession. I predict that the
long term increase will continue and a new all time high will occur in the
next couple of years--say by 2008.

Well, at least based of administration the recession ended years ago.
I agree with you however, we are not recovered yet. The last recovery was
the slowest one in recent history. And I believe the reason is exactly
that.


The current "globalization" has been going on since about 1975 or '80 and
it has been a "good thing" without your "reforms".

Because until now, due to strategic implication of the cold war, we had all
high tech labeled as "strategic" and US never offshored research and
development. Never before. There was always the opportunity to get a higher
education and to get a better paying job.

Today, the jobs of XXI century are the first to go away. It is just brain
damaged, and the reforms are the only option to help.
We need to invest in research and development, and in the absence of "Cold
War" NO PRIVATE BUSINESS is going to do it here. They are just to greedy.


But when WAL*MART does not provide health benefits and the state
government picks up the tab, it was Liberals (so called) who complain and
bash
WAL*MART. But do you agree, that should be the model for all of US
industry?

Healthcare, retirement and education MUST be provided as universal services.
Also unemployment insurance need to be extended.
Beside the fact that is human and civilized it is also economically sound.

Many intelligent people may like to work as independent contractors, being
payed by job done. However, the medical/pension issue prevent them to quit
a job and act as a business.

Beside the fact that you prevent them to earn more, you also have businesses
underutilize them. A contractor can specialize for a certain type of
projects. When he get another contract similar with what he had before, he
can take advantage of his previous work already done to do-it faster.
He will invests time in building a library of tools, patterns, schematics,
algorithms, calculations and so on which will just reuse to get the job
done faster. The business get the job done as fast it can be done, it is
competitive, while not paying unproductive downtime.

However, if the people know that if he don't get a contract for more than 13
weeks he is going to lose his house, he prefer to stay employed for a bad
salary and read newspaper when it doesn't have something to do, just to
stay employed.

Peace of mind and security is going to allow more people to act
independently and take risks. Without a security you lose talents, you
don't get tasks as fast as they can be done and so on. And instead to have
the smartest act as consultants you get as consultants mostly the people
that "know somebody else in charge" and have a certain security that they
get contracts.

Cronies win instead of the brightest. That is the current system.

One problem I see with US government funded "universal health care" is
the abortion/contraception issue. No plan can pass Congress that pays
for these, and none can pass that excludes them. Until that is resolved,
a plan can't get off the ground.

Correct, that is a problem. But this coverage can also be provided by
private insurers which want to provide this kind of coverage for a few
bucks/month.


Who happen to actually be the consumers China and India need to grow
their economy. Kill your consumers and your business fail. Don't you
believe so

"Consumerism" is the world's fastest growing religion ;-)

Possibly !!!
But anyhow, it have a more rational base than "supply side".



.

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