The reasons why outsourcing is beginning to hurt people on this board, and people you know, are a lot more complicated and complex than most people would like to admit. Part of the reason why there is so much impotent rage is because in the USA today, "history" is used as a term of abuse. If you knew a little more about socio-economic history, you'd realize it's not Aparna Jairam in Mumbai who's screwing you, but your Congressman, Senator and CEO who've been doing it to you for decades.
If you went even further back, you'd see that Imperial powers like Britain and France habitually devastated the economies of the Eastern countries by forcing them to accept cheap imports and screwing local workers - Sounds familiar? That's how the Third World *became* the Third World.
Much more recently, when the IMF has been forcing each and every country around the world to 'modernize', what do you think they were doing? Forcing these economies willy-nilly to adapt to Western capitalism - which means lower costs, temporary workforces and the end of job security. Did you protest when everyone told Japan that unless it ended lifetime employment their economy would never be competitive? Did you protest when the IMF forced the Indian government to end decades of running companies, so that successive generations had to look for jobs in sectors like - oh, I don't know - software, maybe?
For the last ten years, US corporations and a lot of the politicians have behaved as though the end of the Cold War was a victory for the most naked, unrestrained, inhumane brand of capitalism possible - Indians didn't invent it, the Chinese didn't invent it. It was invented by Wall St, who told all of us in the Third World that unless we got with the program we'd be history and that we'd be roadkill.
Did you even protest when Thatcher effectively shut down the mining and shipping industries in the UK? When Thatcher and Reagan between themselves castrated the labour and union movements in the UK and the USA? Do you protest today when burger chains make you work seven hour shifts so that they don't need to pay you benefits, and then pull down millions in federal and state subsidies for worker training and welfare?
The short sharp answer is that all of this hoo-haa is because the middle class is finally seeing its ass on the line. When blue collar workers lost their jobs, lost pensions, lost medical insurance, the middle class sanctimoniously told them to join the knowledge economy, and that job loss was a part of capitalism. So why squeal now?
And how come I don't see similar discussions calling for everyone to get out and vote against corporate cronyism that bleeds the US dry?
I see that the guy in the Wired piece, Scott Kirwin, lives in Delaware. Delaware is the most notorious tax haven there is on the mainland USA - I didn't see anything anywhere about how people like him have protested that companies set up HQs there to avoid paying corporate taxes, thus screwing the economies and communities that support them. How come? How come there are no pickets protesting that cutting taxes for the top end of the population is nuking the same schools and education system that might give you and your kids a chance to compete?
Ever since Reagan, it's been a fantastic game of smoke and mirrors - all that the average American knows of economics today is that taxes are bad - period! Well, this is what happens when you cut funding for education and let corporations run your society - it becomes a race to the bottom as someone on the board put it.
It's still all smoke-and-mirrors. I challenge you to go all the politicians who vow to stop outsourcing and ask them to start demonstrating their concern for workers on a smaller scale - reinstate the OSHA regulations that Bush scrapped, raise the minimum wage even a fraction, compel all American companies to provide medical benefits. You know what they'd tell you - that it would make them uncompetitive - now where have I heard that before???
If you want to start fixing this problem, get your heads out of the sand and star
Slashdot Mirror
The reasons why outsourcing is beginning to hurt people on this board, and people you know, are a lot more complicated and complex than most people would like to admit. Part of the reason why there is so much impotent rage is because in the USA today, "history" is used as a term of abuse. If you knew a little more about socio-economic history, you'd realize it's not Aparna Jairam in Mumbai who's screwing you, but your Congressman, Senator and CEO who've been doing it to you for decades. If you went even further back, you'd see that Imperial powers like Britain and France habitually devastated the economies of the Eastern countries by forcing them to accept cheap imports and screwing local workers - Sounds familiar? That's how the Third World *became* the Third World. Much more recently, when the IMF has been forcing each and every country around the world to 'modernize', what do you think they were doing? Forcing these economies willy-nilly to adapt to Western capitalism - which means lower costs, temporary workforces and the end of job security. Did you protest when everyone told Japan that unless it ended lifetime employment their economy would never be competitive? Did you protest when the IMF forced the Indian government to end decades of running companies, so that successive generations had to look for jobs in sectors like - oh, I don't know - software, maybe? For the last ten years, US corporations and a lot of the politicians have behaved as though the end of the Cold War was a victory for the most naked, unrestrained, inhumane brand of capitalism possible - Indians didn't invent it, the Chinese didn't invent it. It was invented by Wall St, who told all of us in the Third World that unless we got with the program we'd be history and that we'd be roadkill. Did you even protest when Thatcher effectively shut down the mining and shipping industries in the UK? When Thatcher and Reagan between themselves castrated the labour and union movements in the UK and the USA? Do you protest today when burger chains make you work seven hour shifts so that they don't need to pay you benefits, and then pull down millions in federal and state subsidies for worker training and welfare? The short sharp answer is that all of this hoo-haa is because the middle class is finally seeing its ass on the line. When blue collar workers lost their jobs, lost pensions, lost medical insurance, the middle class sanctimoniously told them to join the knowledge economy, and that job loss was a part of capitalism. So why squeal now? And how come I don't see similar discussions calling for everyone to get out and vote against corporate cronyism that bleeds the US dry? I see that the guy in the Wired piece, Scott Kirwin, lives in Delaware. Delaware is the most notorious tax haven there is on the mainland USA - I didn't see anything anywhere about how people like him have protested that companies set up HQs there to avoid paying corporate taxes, thus screwing the economies and communities that support them. How come? How come there are no pickets protesting that cutting taxes for the top end of the population is nuking the same schools and education system that might give you and your kids a chance to compete? Ever since Reagan, it's been a fantastic game of smoke and mirrors - all that the average American knows of economics today is that taxes are bad - period! Well, this is what happens when you cut funding for education and let corporations run your society - it becomes a race to the bottom as someone on the board put it. It's still all smoke-and-mirrors. I challenge you to go all the politicians who vow to stop outsourcing and ask them to start demonstrating their concern for workers on a smaller scale - reinstate the OSHA regulations that Bush scrapped, raise the minimum wage even a fraction, compel all American companies to provide medical benefits. You know what they'd tell you - that it would make them uncompetitive - now where have I heard that before??? If you want to start fixing this problem, get your heads out of the sand and star