IBM Moving Skilled Jobs to India, China ...

[Ned]

On one of the talk shows concerning our economy, one of the commentators made a point that I thought was startling. He said that we are in a risk of deflation even though the economy is growing fast because of India and China. Those two countries are providing lower-cost manufacturing and lower-cost services such as programming services to the United States (and the world) that are keeping US costs down across the board, so much so that they are causing strong deflationary effects in the economy as a whole.

In other words, we can expect strong economic growth with prices staying stable or even slightly declining for the foreseeable future. Interest rates should remain low and stable as well. These conditions are just amazing and unprecedented.

[Gatekeeper]

Hmm ... wasn't Alan Greenspan harping about the potential trouble that an extended period of deflation might cause? Not so much to consumers, but to manufacturers. I'd have to do some digging, but I'm sure he was going on about it earlier this year ('round spring or early summer).

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by The Andy-Man
cheeper prices, employment in developing countries, better services. What is the problem?

Heh. Yeah, I agree with you about the employment in developing countries. But cheaper prices and better service? I guess it depends on how you define that, and the industry involved.

Gatekeeper

[MrFun]

Originally posted by The Andy-Man
cheeper prices, employment in developing countries, better services. What is the problem?

Increased unemployment in our own country --

sacrificing the economic well-being of many of our working-class citizens to exploit foreign workers --

short-sighted profit goals that may lead to long-term economic crisis.

[Imran Siddiqui]

cheeper prices, employment in developing countries, better services. What is the problem?

Agreed. Indian and Chinese workers are just as good (if not better) than US workers in this line of work. They are also cheaper. Why shouldn't the companies take advantage? Because they have to be patriotic and nationalistic? Bah!

[Gatekeeper]

How many Americans would be willing to trade a 40-hour work week at $20/hour for, say, a 50-hour work week at $10/hour? If your job was being exported overseas — despite you putting in the same quantity and quality of effort — would you do that in order to keep it?

I'll be honest: I'd seriously consider it. It'd be a helluva adjustment, but it might be doable.

I wouldn't be happy, and my spending power would be reduced, thus meaning my ability to contribute to the consumer economy would be reduced. Multiply me by "x" number of workers doing this, and I wonder what ripple effect it would have?

Gatekeeper

[Timexwatch]

I haven't perused the article, but am I missing something when I think "How in the hell can they turn a call center into any more of a sweatshop than it is now?" or "What's the difference between codemonkeys in India and codemonkeys in America?". I can't see firms chaining people to desks like in textile factories in order to write database code. It's funny to see people feign concern for Indian call center workers whose day and workload probably differs with their American counterparts only in the amount of curry consumed.

The downside I see is the language/culture gap in interfacing with the home office and the American software engineers who write the important mission critical stuff.

[Ned]

The displaced American workers will do something else, perhaps manage the foreign workers. I found it interesting that American manufacturing is today producing more than it has ever in its history even though we have lost 3 million jobs to the like of China. Productivity!

Wow.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself!

[:) Smiley]

One day management and executives are gonna go overseas, and then we'll be truly [bleep]ed.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Then who would invest in the companies?

Remember these corporations are owned by regular people and shares are driven up by demand. The idea that no one will have a good job in America because of outsourcing is silly.

[mindseye]

Originally posted by monkspider
Looks like you IT'ers are going to have pack your bags for Asia if you want a job.

Ha! Some of us already have!

[Ned]

Just as predicted, the overall inflation rate is now negative indicating we are in a slightly deflationary period. This unprecedented at a time when the economy is booming.

Last thing we should do is to try to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs in order to protect the jobs of a few Americans at the expense of vast majority of other Americans.

By the way, I think Lou Dobbs has all wrong. Certainly some manufacturing jobs are moving abroad. Some IT jobs are moving abroad because of the Internet. But overall employment is growing and economy is booming. This indicates that Lou is not correctly reporting the entire picture but is rather fear mongering. This kind of fear mongering has been going on for long as I can remember improbably for the entire time technology has been replacing labor.

[Cruddy]

Well, what do you expect? The shareholders point of view is the only one that matters to capitalism.

In time, it may be those Asian countries which are the destination of outsourced jobs will develop socialist movements to raise pay and conditions to balance things out.

Mean time, expect to see more third world conditions in your neighbourhood.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Cruddy
Well, what do you expect? The shareholders point of view is the only one that matters to capitalism.

In time, it may be those Asian countries which are the destination of outsourced jobs will develop socialist movements to raise pay and conditions to balance things out.

Mean time, expect to see more third world conditions in your neighbourhood.

Hey Cruddy, what the hell are you talking about. The Indians are socialist and the Chinese are Communist.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Ned


Hey Cruddy, what the hell are you talking about. The Indians are socialist

Really? How powerful are there unions? How much national insurance contributions do they pay? What about child workers, non-existent pensions and dental care that makes the UK look good?

Originally posted by Ned
and the Chinese are Communist.

Strange kind of Communist that helps to support capitalism, eh?

Next you'll be saying the Chinese leadership are dedicated to overthrowing the capitalist system, don't take bribes and have their own people's best interests at heart.

Fact of the matter is, they're a corrupt bunch of greaselickers that don't even have to go through the democratic formality of getting elected.