Flow of US jobs to India to continue

[dArKeR]

New Delhi - US election results are unlikely to stem the flow of jobs to India and other developing nations where labour is cheaper as outsourcing is a reality of globalisation, the US envoy here said Friday.

US Ambassador to India David Mulford told a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in New Delhi that there could be no turning back on the outsourcing of US manufacturing and call centre jobs to India and China.

The shifting of employment to nations like India with its vast pool of English-speaking graduates willing to work for less pay than in the West has stirred huge controversy in the United States in what is an election year.

Last month, US Senator John Kerry, the challenger to President George W. Bush in November elections pledged to create 10 million new jobs in four years across the United States by fighting against the outsourcing of American jobs to countries like China and India.

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=552&fArticleId=421188

[Classic_Liberal712]

1. I'm no economist

but I've taken micro econ, going to take macro econ in the fall and have taken many courses on international relations and globalization. The U.S. is merely experiencing "growing pains."

If you want to learn more about globalzation read "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" by Thomas Friedman

[Jack Rabbit]

2. The Lexus and the Olive Tree

Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree is an awful book. In the book, Friedman supports his case for global capitalism just as he does in his newspaper columns: entirely with anecdotal evidence.

Global capitalism should not be confused with democracy. Not only are they not the same thing, they are antithetical. Under global capitalism, a developed country in global North forces a trade agreement on a developing country in the global South under which the IMF and World Bank approve and make loans that must be paid back by selling national assets and resources to transnational corporations based in the global North. If further loans are needed, this is done under the imposition of Structural Adjustment Agreement (SAP), under which wages and pensions are held down and public services privatized. In this, the common people have little or nothing to say about their own future.

It's a bad deal for the common people both in the global North and the global South.

A better book on globalization is No Logo by Naomi Klein.

[idlisambar]

3. Be careful of placing too much respect...

...in the field of economics and the views of its practitioners.

I took a few economics courses in college myself, and was once enchanted by the simplicity and beauty of the models, particularly in micro. However, if the conclusions derived in micro 101 (or macro for that matter) inform your judgment on globalization, you might want to take a look at the link in my signature. The website is a support site for a book that delves deeper into the theoretical (and historical) underpinnings of neo-classical economics. It's no fluffy rant, and its not for beach reading, but you'll probably come away knowing more about economics than most of your professors (no kidding).

[Robert Oak]

4. India's new propaganda machine

India is constantly trying to say "you can't stop it" and other
nonsense to justify taking our jobs and destroying the middle class.

On our website are many world leading economists texts and articles who blow holes in the "free trade" mantra and prove it's a cultist chant for
multi-nationals to rape the world.

Ralph Gomory has a fantastic, mathematically proven work that shows
"outsourcing is not good for America" (modeling global trade in general).

[Gin]

5. My previous employer opened a call center in the Phillipines...as a test

they will start calling old (dead) accounts to test their skills and end result...I wasn't aware the Phillipines is another outsourcing location.

[Heero]

6. This is horrible

The sort of policies that do this sort of thing. I'm glad Kerry is standing up to Bush on this issue.

[mhr]

7. Republicans Worst Nightmare - People Like Myself

Unemployed 4 years!

Two College Degrees:
BSEE
MBA

Special Training:
FAA Certified Commercial Pilot

Military Service:
Officer United States Navy

Professional Work Experience:
Long and Varied

Slowly becoming impoverished!

Can't get low income jobs - too much experience, too many aliens
Can't find middle class white collar jobs - outsourced or already filled

With the MBA, I have studied both micro and macro economics. Unlike * we had to work for the grades.

The globalization argument does not hold water because capital can move faster than workers can retrain for other jobs. In the case of outsourcing, the trend slowly hollows out the core of good middle class jobs from the economy. This will leave the US with a two tiered economy, the ultra wealthy and the ultra poor.

[bws]

8. sigh...

I've actually talked with a lot of conservatives and listened to many opinions about outsourcing.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/03/11/commentary/dobbs/dobbs/index.htm

In micro we talked about externalities a whole lot. Prof. Hamermesh(a truly brilliant man. he's been on TV several times) taught me many things regarding these situations. If you ever talk to conservatives that give you all that "comparative advantage" crap, ask them if they've ever even heard of externalities. Conservatives some reason do not believe that these situations exist. If we simply ignored externalities(which we are doing with the outsourcing issue), the effects on our economy would truly be disastrous. For a long time I believed these people until I actually challenged their way of thinking.