The faces of offshoring

[Skittles]

I am disgusted with America pimping off its jobs to the lowest bidders overseas

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/81/offshore_profiles.html

[marmar]

1. Thanks for that.....

Runaway corporatism beholden solely to stockholders will eventually cannibalize itself. It's time to re-invent the wheel.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. If they want violence in the streets...

All they have to do is keep following this course. History is clear on that.

I think it is telling that Halliburton's CEO is moving to Dubai. I think he knows the real possibilities and that people like him will be in real danger.

On edit: The stories of shoddy offshore work product abound.

[Deja Q]

24. Maybe that's why they are building more detention camps?

:sarcasm:

As for the CEOs; if they think America will get too hot to handle, playing with the people of the already grossly overpopulated countries of the world is only going to compound their problems in the end. For no other reason, the quality of the products made in these locals is garbage. Doesn't say much for the people MAKING them either...

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Thank The Politicians Who Made It Possible

Some of the instigators/enablers of job-obliterating 'free' trade agreements are actually running for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Of course, if I named names, I'd get yelled at - because it's unfair to use a candidate's voting record against them, no?

Until we wake up and stop this stuff, we're rather fucked.

[Deja Q]

22. Until we care. Most don't. The rat race is over; the rats won.

And they're not rats. They're our saviors.

And that's not out of "sucking up"; at least they provide jobs. Nobody I know of is going to become self-employed. 'local communities' are a thing of the past.

And I don't believe in "peak oil" anymore either. (sorry, not sarcasm.)

[Extend a Hand]

4. My husband and I both work in IT

Our company has a stated goal of outsourcing 70% of all new development. Every year they lay off more. They're making great progress. We are saving every dime we can, paying down our mortgage, and hoping we can get our high-schooler through college before the jobs run out. At least we're close to retirement. It's really hard on folks with younger families.

What's really bad is that you really can't blame the Indian contractors. I was training one guy to take over support on some old stuff I had written years ago and I asked him what he got paid and he told me $20,000. ($10 bucks an hour for a degreed software engineer). :(

It's looking like the only IT jobs left for Americans will be jobs with defense contractors that require security clearance....geez I hope they aren't stupid enough to outsource those too.

[Skittles]

5. yes

I save my animosity for American executives who are doing the pimping and the politicians who are helping them do it :(

[Skittles]

6. kicking for day crowd

S

[HughBeaumont]

7. I've been linking to this article since 2004.

It's important for the freep traders and their ardent apologists to realize there are human faces to this inhuman practice. My journal contains more information on why this faith-based bit of Republican crapola makes no sense to anyone except the callous and non-caring wealthy.

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. Hey bu$hco and the rest of you greedy repukes, what part don't you get?

If you're {unemployed} not paying taxes, you can't fund the government.

For every lost job, there's a lost taxpayer.

[Deja Q]

21. Or, if the corporate elite matched costs of goods to match cost of living,

like they do in India and China and other countries, living on $2/day wouldn't bother a single person.

[Matsubara]

9. Kick...

...since I still don't have enough posts to rec.


How many of these people voted GOP, or for DLC "democrats" of the ilk that promote offshoring by giving companies tax breaks for doing so?

[YOY]

10. I like the one guy's quote

"How many real estate agents do we need?"

Amen bro. A nation of insurance salesmen, fiscal executives, and real estate agents...fucking parasitic.

[Deja Q]

25. This one is more apropos and I had to do this recently:

"I wrote up the directions so an idiot could install them. I actually wrote off my own job."

The trouble is, idiots have no intuition or experience for when something goes wrong. You cannot eliminate skilled people!

Actiontec... I had one of their modems (made in 2004; after he left.) Piece of garbage...

"What industry do I choose that's not faced with the same situation?"

Car mechanics (go to the local CarX chain where they get paid jack shit to do understandably shoddy work... until the wheels fall off...)

Plumbers (Roto-Rooter and related chains)

Another similarity is from this quote:
He says managers had mentioned the possibility earlier, saying it could free his group to learn new skills.

Managers want employees to trust them. Then wonder why they're not trusted when we see the same pattern recur. :dunce:

"For every lost job, there's a lost taxpayer."

Well, that means America can't pay back its debt. Will China and India like that, despite their short-term advantage? (Just as long as America presses the button after they do, I won't mind. Even if they don't, that's fine. Everybody's saying global warming will affect the Asia continent the worst. Fair enough. :shrug: )

I dig Otto's section as well:

Otto Strampfer
Strampfer was working as a consultant when his company hired Indian programmers. After training them, he lost his job and the work went to India.

"I can't believe people are saying it's great to send jobs overseas when we have people unemployed in America."

But none of us is qualified. (bull shit. Define the qualifiers; they are unrealistic. To say the very least.)


And I better finish my novel before Andres Urv finishes his. Mine's based on reality and fantasy. Since people love mindless maudlin melodrama, my book should be a big hit. Then I'll be rich and can feel comfortable again.

Lastly is this quote:
"People are offshoring the most expensive jobs, but they're already eyeing other professions. Where does that leave the U.S.?"

Well, it's simple - as with the other people talking about America, maybe the corporations are engaging in acts of treason if they are getting away with what they are doing. I sure as fuck don't know what to say, except politicians on BOTH sides support what's happening. While I do to a certain extent; I've said before there's a difference between expanding and moving (which is a nicer term for "gutting"). We need to stop moving.


Everything left is chain store fodder where quantity is more than quality; the managers forgetting it's quality that brings people back. They talk about customer service seminars; they ought to take some of them as well as offering them.

And some say "become self-employed".

Like fighting City Hall, it's obvious who wins when you compete with the larger entity.

So that's why there are regulations to keep the large entities from ultimately eating themselves.


I truly feel for Natasha Humphries:
A former Palm software engineer, Humphries, 30, says she traveled to India to train her replacements, and has testified before Congress about her experience.

"How much time does buy me before I find myself in this situation again?"

Training her replacements? That's DESPICABLE. I know she's not alone, but geez... I imagine she had to do it in order to get UI benefits. I hope she got them... Palm Inc, too. They're as blue as ice.)

[stirlingsliver]

11. Why Canada?

I noticed that several of these folks lost their jobs when the corporations decided to move the jobs to Canada?

I know Canada is a wonderful place and everything, but I wonder why corporations would want to move jobs there instead of just leaving them in the US?

[riderinthestorm]

14. Health care.

The costs to major corps of health care is an enormous incentive for them to move out of the States. US companies are already facing major competition from corps that don't have to subsidize their employees' healthcare insurance.

IMHO this will be the driving force for universal single payer healthcare in the US - the corporations will drive that bus home. Hopefully sooner than later.

[hootinholler]

17. Not if they can shed the cost cheaper by outsourcing.

For some in tech, Canada's export restrictions on certain popular algorithims (encryption) are more lax than ours. So if you develop the code in Canada you can distribute it to more countries.

-Hoot

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. Could have added my pic to that site.

I was laid off from my last full-time ($84k/year) gig in 2003.

It's worked out okay for me for a variety of reasons, but it's still a lost family-wage job.

[Useless in FL]

15. Same Here..

I also was laid off in 2001 from a high-paying network security position when the job was transferred to India. I tried for a year to get another job, but due to my age at the time (57) and my salary history, I couldn't even land an interview. So... guess what I'm doing now.... real estate - what else. It's taken practically all of my 40lK for re-training and to pay my family's expenses during the slow times. Basically we live from commission check to commission check (with luck)so I guess I'll never be able to retire. Even if I wanted to get back into IT if the jobs came back here, I'd never be able to do it now do to ...age of course... and the lack of up-to-date skills.

[supernova]

13. I could add my name

to the list. I was laid off a Technical Writing contract last November.

I'm not real optomistic about getting another contract. Not about not getting one, I mean, what's the point? If I do get one, will I just get laid off again in 15, 24 months? And feel anxious the whole time I'm there? Edit: It's the instability that is getting to me. :-(

It's sad that I feel so pessimistic about work. I've never in my life *not* wanted to work. I'm thinking of starting my own business just to have the type of work that I want and the be able to do it at the level that I think I'm capable of.

[leftofthedial]

16. "free market" capitalism

will destroy the planet in our lifetimes if we don't stop it.

[Deja Q]

20. There's only one way and nobody's going to do that.

The illegals who, several months ago, whined they would do a mass walk-out of their jobs to prove how important they are... didn't bother.

Neither will the rest of us.

Why?

Because the coworkers say "not my concern" or "somebody else will take the job anyway".

So, what's left? Suicide? Good. You provide the god damn pill.

[blues90]

18. If you are fortunate enough to even find a job

Then you have to be constantly concerned if you will be able to keep it .

I did not loose my long term career though outsourcing but it was a result of it .

I worked at ford dealerships for many many years , due to issues of recalls and cheap parts and constant repairs on a new car or truck people became pissed and leary of most american built cars and trucks , plus the gas milage was also an issue .

Ford is in big trouble and my job was lost to new management who wnated their own crew in place .

Now there are no jobs at ford anywhere near where I live .

Now what the hell does one do , other makes want their specific models experience . I don't have the money or even the idea of what to retrain for and then what happens of the next job vanishes , then what .

I am not young anymore and never had the desire to keep finding new careers , this leaves alot of the older folk completely screwed .

Why not ship all the jobs away in one great swoop and get it over with then just maybe people will begin to see what's happening and maybe fight back , that is if there is a way to.

Makes one wonder where they will end up or if there is even a future other than living on the road with a back pack and alot of luck .

[Deja Q]

19. Globalization is bullshit.

If jobs were being EXPANDED to the world, fine. Real growth.

All that site proves is jobs are being MOVED. This isn't growth in any real sense.

Infer what you like; I'm tired of the two hundred things I infer and none of them is particularly pretty and half of those ARE outright fantasy. I've been told to stay on earth and 'live in the present'.

[treestar]

23. Americans can invest overseas; there is nothing we can do about that

If you wanted to do it, you'd be pissed if you couldn't.

The answer is some sort of international union - if equivalent workers cost just as much there will be a level playing field. Otherwise people are going to end up working for what they can get - there's no way around that.

Just complaining won't help.