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President Defends Global Outsourcing
mytrip wrote to mention a New York Times article discussing President Bush's trip to the Indian subcontinent. There, he urged Americans to welcome global competition for their jobs. From the article: "Mr. Bush, reiterating a theme of his trip, strongly defended the outsourcing of American jobs to India as the reality of a global economy, and said that the United States should instead focus on India as a vital new market for American goods ... 'The classic opportunity for our American farmers and entrepreneurs and small businesses to understand is there is a 300 million-person market of middle class citizens here in India, and that if we can make a product they want, that it becomes viable,'"
But you are affected by it, albeit indirectly. I'm not sure what sort of software development you do, but it's quite likely that you would be affected.
If you write consumer-grade software, it must be considered that you won't necessarily make money if all your customers have been laid off from their manufacturing jobs, and thus cannot pay for your software.
If you write the software that is used by (downsizing or bankrupting) manufacturers, you'll likewise be hurt. If there are no robotics to write control systems for, or few businesses requiring server and accounting software, due to an exodus of manufacturing, you suffer.
If you develop software in an academic setting, you'll likewise feel the pinch. People who aren't working likely won't be able to afford higher education. Of course, a place like Canada sports heavily subsidized university-level education. If people aren't working, or they are and making very little, they the tax revenue collected by the governments decreases. That will lead to smaller amounts going towards subsidizing higher education, for instance. For such a developer, that may translate to lower wages, or even job loss.
Everyone is connected when it comes to the economy. If Joe Neighbor loses his job, it can end up harming your prosperity, too.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
History is a stream, not an island. And yet, it makes little sense to talk about history of fifty years ago in this context - what matters to us now is how things are now. While that includes the state vector of remembrance of things past, it is not the past itself. Frequently, the more we can do to suppress that state vector instead of attempting to redress past wrongs, the more likely we are to make real progress rather than getting embroiled in another pointless conflict.