Slashdot Mirror
Can China Pull An India?
ricst writes: "The New York Times has a story about how China is trying to leap ahead of India as the world's second-largest producer of software. Apparently the Chinese are trying to learn everything they can from the Indian software developers. It's not clear that if China becomes a strong competitor to India that 'jobs will be lost or simply not created' in the U.S. My guess is that the most creative software opportunities will remain in the US for some time, and the more routine development efforts will continue to be transfered overseas."
sp, it was Elbonians, not Albonians. And they weren't secret, they bought out the company after they made a fortune selling the mud that was their country as a cosmetic product. Or am I the only one geeky enough to remember that strip?
I am !amused.
I *do* have a problem with this. Call me an isolationist, but the living conditions and quality of life is vastly different in China and India than it is in the US.
I heard a story on NPR about how India trains people for call centers. They can take a $35,000 job from the US and turn it into a $4,000 job in India.
So what happens to the person making $35,000 over here? Should they take a pay cut to $4,000?
Similarly, I'm sure that people in India and China would be willing to do development for $10/hour. A globalist would say "Great! We can save money by doing that". But what happens to the developers over here?
Hey, I guess they can just move into the textile industry instead. Wait, those jobs are all overseas. How about customer service? Nope -- those are being outsourced too. Manufacturing? No, those are long gone. Auto-making? Nope -- gone to Mexico.
Before long, any job that *can* be done remotely *will* be done remotely when you can pay someone in another country $10/hour to work (plus, want to bet that they have benefits over there?). Which means that a vast majority of professionals will be out of work.
Then what?
We should be calling our representatives about such things. There should be duties paid on software developed in other countries just as there are duties in other industries. I'm not saying that because I want to take a protectionist stance just for the sake of doing so. I'm saying it because there is a huge difference between someone in living India and someone living in Silicon Valley. That difference should not be exploited by corporations looking to save a buck.
Otherwise our standard of living, which is probably the highest in the world, will get lower while the rest of the world's gets higher.
It's like littering -- if one or two companies do it, it's only a nusiance, but when everyone starts to do it, it's a disaster for everyone yet no one can be held accountable for the disaster.
Ralph
By implying that ALL CHINESE ARE IMMORAL - with your "Chinese morality" subject heading - may I know where did you obtain your "moral certification", sir?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Everyone keeps talking about chineese opportunity and investment, but the simple fact is that India is more accountable to westerm values and ways. They are a lot easier to deal with and make profit with, and alot more english friendly, and alot more politically friendly to the US.
As China grows, it is going to come under incredible political pressure as it's citizens become wealthier and have more expectations for freedom - the government will either become opressive internally or lash out (at Tiwan most likely) to channel this pressure away from the governemnt. In India this pressure will simply be channeled thru the democratic process.
Also, the US is far better off if China and India are struggeling against each other, than with the US.