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IBM, Other Multinationals "Detaching" From the US
theodp writes "If you're brilliant, work really hard, and earn a world-class doctorate from a US university, IBM has a job for you at one of its US research sites — as a 'complementary worker' (as this 1996 piece defined the then-emerging term). But be prepared to ship out to India or China after you've soaked up knowledge for 13 months as a 'long-term supplemental worker.' Newsweek sketches some of the bigger picture, reporting that IBM, HP, Accenture, and others are finding it profitable to detach from the United States (even patenting the process). 'IBM is one of the multinationals that propelled America to the apex of its power, and it is now emblematic of the process of creative destruction pushing America to a new, less dominant, and less comfortable position.'"
Yeah, but just because Bush was as much or more of a problem than Obama doesn't justify a damn thing, and Obama is the guy playing king now. How many years have to pass before people stop pointing the finger at Bush (for as awful a president as he was) and concentrate on the current administration, whatever it will be then? Also, a newsflash: the entire "system" didn't start with Bush. Bush is not even close to the root of the problem. Who cares who the actor is here when the part is always played the same?
Corporate taxes are a joke. They just get passed on to the consumer anyway
Right, instead the government should just be giving them money, because surely that benefit will just be passed on to the consumer anyway. After all, economics is a zero-sum game and corporations always just charge consumers the cost of production.
Better question: Instead of worrying over them leaving, why continue to buy their products/services? I say boycotts are in order here.
Your approach as stated is very reptilian (think brain-stem), however, we are mammals with a limbic system and prefrontal cortex as well. So there's wisdom in what you say, however, it misses 2/3rds of the story, which is really what makes us human.
The aggressive attitude that "balances-everything-out" is very important, but even more important is an understanding of non-aggression. We are all in this together - interlinked - and kindness and consideration for others helps everyone.
To use your analogies: if you see someone attracted to you, who is having difficulty romantically, then some consideration and belief in their intrinsic worth will bring out the best in them. Doesn't mean you date them or do anything for them really.
Same goes for work. A boss has the potential to bring out the best in employees, as Steven Covey illustrates in Principle Oriented Leadership.
The net effect of this approach is a win-win; and also greater than the sum of it's parts. It's in tune with our basic nature, which seeks to improve the inclusive fitness of the species. You've merely described the equivalent of the reproductive fitness - which favours sociopaths of all kinds.
The left is not about pathologizing people, but helping us all about become better than we are. Thus an unemployed person is not *lazy*, perhaps they are having difficulties - which we all do at some point. Giving a handout to a lazy person is effectively cruel. Giving a handout to someone in difficulties helps break a vicious cycle.
The political left is not about whining for handouts. That's a strawman that you use for self-propaganda.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
Make shareholders liable for the actions of the companies in which the hold stock.
EXACTLY! IBM and other companies see the writing on the wall. Hussein Obama is a Marxist/Socialist and will stop at nothing to "redistribute" the wealth from "those that stole it" to "those that deserve it". What company would want to do business in America, when any profits they make are stolen. We have almost 40% of the people out there that for whatever reason, would rather sit on their butt and let the government "take care of them" instead of getting off their butts and taking responsibility for themselves. We have complainers, lazy butts, and those that think anything that happened to them is someone else's fault. It's a good thing the lax attitude of the average slob American wasn't around from 1941 to 1945 or we'd be speaking Japanese or German! Socialism will fail, as it has everywhere else when they run out of other peoples money to give away.
What happened to good old Jap' hate?
There's nothing irrational about it. Tariffs were a major contributing cause of The Great Depression.
Why is it that everyone thinks themselves an expert in every subject that affects their lives? I've got friends telling me I need to hook my car battery up to a tank of water and run my car on hydrogen... Others trying to convince me that the latest pyramid scheme is the greatest investment opportunity ever... What makes your hair-brained idea of how economics work, based on absolutely no study of economics, and clearly no knowledge of history, any less idiotic?
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant