Gartner: Offshore IT spending to hit $50 billion

When Gartner next week announces its annual IT predictions, the noted research outfit will also make a headline or two by predicting that offshore spending on IT services will reach $50 billion by 2007.

That's the sort of `whoa brother' number that should make policy makers sit up and notice. Like so many issues, offshore outsourcing was politicized to the point of trivialization during the presidential election season. Neither George Bush nor John Kerry ever engaged business and labor leaders in a serious dialogue. But if the Gartner figures are on target, both sides have a urgent interest in figuring out how they plan to deal with the undeniable growth in the global outsourcing of services. I think HP's Carly Fiorina put it well: There's no such thing anymore as an `American job.'

Except for flipping burgers, that is.