Comments on: Study supports controversial offshore numbers

A new report by Forrester Research repeats its controversial assertion that more than 3 million U.S. jobs will move overseas by 2015, an estimate that contributed to the political firestorm surrounding the offshoring issue.

[furl12]

Has anyone noticed the political chnages in India?

Or didn't you notice that the umpteen gazillion poor folk in India have just evicted the nasty, brutish party who subsidized the IT industry at everyone else's expense?

American CEO's and CIO's are so out of touch.

[waynehapp]

Offshore

Hmmmm....

Offshore. America has lost it's scientific lead.
(Last weeks New York Times.)

Hmmmm.

Wonder if there's a connection there...

In 5 years 75% of Americal will be working at Wall-Mart and the other 25% will be burger flipping for them when they're on their lunch breaks.

You called it - political/policy volatility

Good observation. It will be interesting to see what the coalition gov't in India with its communist contingent and general very left leaning practices do with India's economy. This is yet another reason to be *very* judicious in the use of offshoring. Frankly, I hope a bunch of large selfish conglomerates get burned bigtime - and I'm a republican...

Notice how the pro-offshoring crowd is never specific?

Pro-offshore types never tell us which industries are ramping up to deliver the jobs that they keep telling us will be generated by taking away IT and service industry jobs. We all must apply pressure to get them to answer a simple question: SPECIFICALLY, what industries are currently, or soon will be, ramping up their business and begin creating jobs that will directly replace or improve upon the salaries and benefits of those jobs now leaving this country. Second, they are responsible for explaining how their actions - which are primarily responsible for the erosion of America's capabilities in the technology arena - will not result in not only loss of technological leadership, but of even fundamental technological and scientific capabilities. We the people must hold the politicians, CEOs, Boards of Directors, shills like the ITAA, and overseas businesses responsible. It starts with us beating the drum constantly by asking questions in forums like this, in letters to our political leaders and heads of business. We have to do it, no one else will. If we fail, America is headed directly toward being a "fourth world" country. That's my term for a former first world nation that loses its economy to the world economy. Look up "Ricardo's Iron Law of Wages" if you want to see how it is beginning to happen.

[iconoclastic_thinker]

being short sighted

is exactly the who and what of politics and labor distribution,,LOL this is how the USA was built by creating a mecca for all to come, for jobs and a superior way of life for religious freedom, and freedom from persecution.
So now our new masters the bottom line of the week is selling off all our physical assets shipping manufacturing plants and tools off shore, we are becoming Britain of the 19th,& 20th century.
Our primary asset is the brains, ingenuity and talent of our peoples, our unique way of doing things.
Now as soon as an idea is conceived someone in book keeping or banking wants to send it out of the country for processing, development, & production so that the idea will then come back as a finished product. But, who the hell will it be sold too when there is only %5 of the population who have all the disposable income, the rest being minimized out of existence.

Within 20 years this nation could be balkanized by the ego maniacs who are selling away America in bits and pieces allowing unfettered immigration with dual citizen ship

It all comes down to money and that assault is being financed by the bankers who are lend out our monies for the short term percentage of a commission on the transaction

[oncfari]

Everything old is new again?

Sorry, but I fail to see how this off-shoring
issue is really substantially different from any
other aspect of business globalization. In the
1970s and 1980s we heard a steady stream
of whining about how the US automobile
industry was going to evaporate if we started
building cars (or even parts of cars) in Europe
and Asia. Did that happen? No, of course not!
We did learn that cheaper is not always better
and necessary adjustments had to be made
to cope with that reality. However, we also
learned that quality is important to consumers,
a factor that the US auto industry was prone to
increasingly ignore prior to that exodus of jobs
and plants.

Those realities notwithstanding, would the
naysayers have us pass laws making it illegal
to have an innovative thought or idea outside
US borders? Look, this is going to happen; it
is not an issue that can be - or will be -
resolved through debate and certainly not
through regulation or litigation. The best
defense is what it has always been:
Excellence Rules. Indeed, there are always
those who will go cheap. That's why Wal-Mart
is now the world's largest retailer. (And yes,
Sam Walton would turn over in his grave if he
could see the amount of Chinese imports on
his once BUY AMERICAN store shelves!) But
we are already seeing call centers and other
offshore businesses returning home because
consumers have spoken, and the smart
companies (i.e., the ones that will survive this)
are listening!

Mike Marullo
New Orleans, LA USA

Offshoring to a bright future?

It is so easy to get caught-up in the US-centric view of offshoring that you can miss the effect on other countries. That is why an excellent article by William Pesek, writing on Japan's woes for Bloomberg should grab your attention.

"To compete, Japan's only option may be to adjust its economy in China's direction. It's a provocative suggestion, admittedly, but one that officials here in Tokyo may have to consider. Japan's problem is not unlike Hong Kong's. Its process of integrating with the mainland may leave living standards lower than they are today."

From this, it appears that what the US is experiencing today is nothing against what Japan's experience will be.

Western countries are in two minds about offshoring, on one side it is *bad* because, on the surface jobs are leaving for foreign shores. But conversely, it has been proven that it is *good* for the economy as a whole.

Politicians may have protectionist tendencies, but I see that the main issue is one of perception. Economies change, jobs change; appear and disappear. It does not matter if those jobs are in the US or Europe, or in Russia, China or India, the work will ultimately move to where it is most efficiently carried out. And it is right and proper that it should do so.

[waynehapp]

Offshore Numbers

I can not beleive that this pro offshore propaganda fell back on "education".

The individuals who used to build auto's in America are now sweeping up in Pizza Hut

Once high skill labor is gone...What do you propose we "educate" for? The WaWa maybe?