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Subject:Re: Offshoring: San Jose Mercury News article From:k k <turnleftatnowhere -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 11 Nov 2003 10:30:19 -0800 (PST)
Apologies to all: I didn't finish my message and
somehow contrived to hit the "Send" button by mistake.
I try very hard to maintain an even keel on issues
like this one, but this was just too much.
--- "Richard G. Combs" <richard -dot- combs -at- voyanttech -dot- com>
wrote:
>
>
> Yes, that kind of progress hurts certain "victims"
> in the short run. Just as
> it did the buggy-whip makers, auto-body welders, and
> switchboard operators.
> Should their *temporary* discomfort be used as an
> excuse to keep us all
> poorer?
>
These examples are totally bogus because these people
were displaced by economic changes that CREATED jobs.
They were the victims of new industries that opened
many new opportunities, so they had somewhere to go if
they could retool themselves. The current offshoring
craze is not creating any replacement jobs for the
jobs that are being sent overseas. The whole point of
offshoring is to prevent hiring in this country. And
we are NOT seeing any big new types of industries or
broad expansions in existing industries the way the
buggy-whip makers did. We are seeing companies running
away from this country as fast as they can.
For a lot of the people who lose their jobs because of
offshoring, the effects are not temporary, and despite
your efforts to make them seem so they are not
trivial. There are many people out there who have lost
everything in the last few years, and the way that
offshoring is shrinking the American job market, they
may never again have a chance to find a job that pays
as well as what they lost. And the ranks of people who
used to make good livings and now can just barely
scrape by will be swelled more in the coming years by
more offshoring. But according to you we should feel
good about what's happening because this pauperization
of the American middle class somehow makes us richer.
Yes, people can retrain and try to get into a new
field - if they can afford it. Lots of people can't
and they may well be stuck forever at lower wages. And
the companies in the fields that they may try to cross
over into are also offshoring as fast as they can so
that reduces the possibilities even further.
I suppose I can understand your feelings on this
matter if you define "us" as "people who have a LOT of
money in the bank or a LOT of income from sources
other than the paycheck and who can live well without
that paycheck." I think anyone without a golden
parachute will find your philosophy utterly incomprehensible.
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