Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Who is responsible for the current US economy?

Rodney · 07-18-2003, 10:34 AM

One of the things that makes me see double are figures that show economic growth while hiring stays flat or sinks. Corporations say that it's due to increases in productivity thanks to new technologies, etc., Yeah, right.

Maybe partially. But a great deal of that "increase in productivity" comes from contracting out work overseas to people who'll do it for 1/4 to 1/10 the salary. The Internet makes this easy, so I guess you can still say that technology is the key, but really it's cheaper labor. Plenty of tech jobs have moved to South India, and more and more companies are either contracting their work their or starting offices there. Other service jobs are going to India: call centers, medical transcription; I just read that one of the big accounting firms founded an office there to process American income tax returns.

Is this going to turn into those "they're takin' our jobs, the bastids" rants? No. It's capitalism, and what corporations are doing is entirely by the rules -- they're chasing low-cost solutions to improve their bottom lines and serve the shareholders. But...

Every time they move a job overseas, they make the American public -- the consumers who are driving this economy -- just a little more nervous about their jobs, and a little less inclined to spend money. Plus, they're putting more people in the U.S. out of work at a time when new jobs are not being created.

Does the phrase "shooting yourself in the foot" mean anything? Companies are improving their own bottom lines in a way that helps them individually but weakens the American economy -- certainly buying power -- as a whole, at the very time that they're hoping that consumer buying will help pull the economy back into gear. See, this is where government has to step in and do something, because private industry is too focused on the bottom line to do anything. But our current administration hasn't found a way to do anything meaningful so far. I really doubt that those tax cuts will help much; especially if you're already unemployed, or make under 50K a year.

The doldrums we're in now are not just the business cycle, though that's part of it. They're partly caused by a major way in which corporations are doing business -- or more, appropriately, where they're getting that business done. Offshoring is only going to accelerate, and it's going to make a big and lasting change in the American economy.

07-18-2003, 10:34 AM	#13 (permalink)
Rodney Observant Ruminant Location: Rich Wannabe Hippie Town	One of the things that makes me see double are figures that show economic growth while hiring stays flat or sinks. Corporations say that it's due to increases in productivity thanks to new technologies, etc., Yeah, right. Maybe partially. But a great deal of that "increase in productivity" comes from contracting out work overseas to people who'll do it for 1/4 to 1/10 the salary. The Internet makes this easy, so I guess you can still say that technology is the key, but really it's cheaper labor. Plenty of tech jobs have moved to South India, and more and more companies are either contracting their work their or starting offices there. Other service jobs are going to India: call centers, medical transcription; I just read that one of the big accounting firms founded an office there to process American income tax returns. Is this going to turn into those "they're takin' our jobs, the bastids" rants? No. It's capitalism, and what corporations are doing is entirely by the rules -- they're chasing low-cost solutions to improve their bottom lines and serve the shareholders. But... Every time they move a job overseas, they make the American public -- the consumers who are driving this economy -- just a little more nervous about their jobs, and a little less inclined to spend money. Plus, they're putting more people in the U.S. out of work at a time when new jobs are not being created. Does the phrase "shooting yourself in the foot" mean anything? Companies are improving their own bottom lines in a way that helps them individually but weakens the American economy -- certainly buying power -- as a whole, at the very time that they're hoping that consumer buying will help pull the economy back into gear. See, this is where government has to step in and do something, because private industry is too focused on the bottom line to do anything. But our current administration hasn't found a way to do anything meaningful so far. I really doubt that those tax cuts will help much; especially if you're already unemployed, or make under 50K a year. The doldrums we're in now are not just the business cycle, though that's part of it. They're partly caused by a major way in which corporations are doing business -- or more, appropriately, where they're getting that business done. Offshoring is only going to accelerate, and it's going to make a big and lasting change in the American economy.