Why your job is moving to Bangalore
Published February 18, 2004
Jagdish Bhagwati, a well-known figure in the globalization community, wrote a political op-ed piece he called "Why Your Job Isn't Moving to Bangalore" [02/15/2004] about why offshoring American jobs is not a bad thing.
As I read it I had a growing sense of disappointment until I remembered it was a political op-ed. Even with that, however, it's not up to Bhagwati's usual standards, and the facts on the ground contradict his beliefs. Here are a few excerpts from the op-ed:
Putting these [simple, labor-intensive service] jobs overseas is, in economic terms, no different than importing labor-intensive textiles and other goods.
The second, newer type of outsourcing involves American companies that do highly skilled research and development work abroad. Craig Barrett, chief executive of Intel, has said that American workers face the prospect of 300 million well-educated people in India, China and Russia who can "do effectively any job that can be done in the United States." But such concerns seem exaggerated. There is little evidence of a major push by American companies to set up research operations in the developing world. I have taught hundreds of fine foreign students in the last few years, but only a small fraction are at the level of proficiency that Intel looks for in its research programs.
Unfortunately, the issue is further confused by claims that American jobs are being "transferred" abroad. This is usually not the case. When I came to my university 25 years ago, I got a secretary. Today, the new hires get a computer instead. In India, where a secretary costs a small fraction of what one would in New York City but a computer costs more, any Indian professor who asked for a new laptop would probably get a secretary instead. It is simply a matter of economic reality in both places. The hiring of the secretary in India should not be seen as "transferring" a job out of New York.
The fact is, when jobs disappear in America it is usually because technical change has destroyed them, not because they have gone anywhere. In the end, Americans' increasing dependence on an ever-widening array of technology will create a flood of high-paying jobs requiring hands-on technicians, not disembodied voices from the other side of the world. [Why Your Job Isn't Moving to Bangalore Jagdish Bhagwati 02/15/2004]
- Why your job is moving to Bangalore
- Published: February 18, 2004
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- Section: Culture
- Writer: Hal Pawluk
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The triple Whammy to OFFSHORING American
JOBS:
I have been aware of offshoring since the mid to late 70's, YES PRE-NAFTA, about the same time countless American corporations were bailing on the US. to Caribbean nations. American companies who were founded, built, and made successful by American workers, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Corporations like IBM, WalMart, HP, KPMG, Hal-
liburton and it's subsidiaries, Heinz and its subsidiaries, and the parent company of Bank of America (who insultingly is one of the 12 banks doing business under the corporate layering, and guise of being American), originally from from places like New York, Arkansas, California, and Massachusetts, are now Caribbean corporations, who no longer pay federal or state taxes. When these 100's of millions of dollar$ lost for the good of the U.S. infrastructure, public safety, education, highways, Medicare/Medicaid, and the cost to protect and maintain freedom by the our military, are considered, American politicians gladly and greedily accept these corproations money year after year, and as we all know, nothing is free, it even costs to breathe, and
therefore something is ALWAYS expected in return.
Do not confuse the loss of these federal and state taxes from Corporate or other taxes. They are NOT the same.
Do you wonder as to how budget deficits continue to mount all the way from the local to the federal level. The fight against terroism and regime changes has nothing to do with thse defi-
cits. It's the loss of the corproate state and federal tax dollars, and the dollars lost in earnings by Ameican workers.
A country where, our CONSTITUTION calls for for an accounting from time to time for deposits made into the account of the U.S. Department of the Treasury as required by the constition (and no other account, under any other name or guise), there are many Americans who would devote their time and effort to take part in this constitu-
tional requirement for the good of the whole... We The People of The United States of America.
And this audit could and would include the GAO.
Just consider the raiding of money from the Medicare system. If it were not done, and left as it was designed to be, Medicare would be SELF-SUFFICIENT, plain and simple!
And consider, since former IRS Director, Charles Rosotti's statement to Congress, in answer to the
question regarding an audit by the GAO, as to the whereabouts of missing $3 Million, that "it did not happen under his watch," is insufficient and irresponsible. How difficult would it be to follow the electronic and paper trail?
If over the last 12 months or so California has lost over 240,000, Michigan, over 210,000, Ohio over 220,000, not to mention New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, Washington, New Jersey, and all others, I would question the accuracy of the numbers and percentages being reported as to the present claimes total lost.
The spending, saving, and home-buying that took place before more jobs were sent off-shore, were not done because their are 300 million or more other workers in Pakistan, Ireland, India, and other places who are more current with current technology, because the only number MOST former-American corporations who are taking part in this, are interested in ONE thing and ONE thing ONLY.
MO' MONEY, MO CHEDDA, MO SCRILLA, ETC.
The dollars once spent by Americans who earned these lost dollars, are of course, not being spent back into our economy for goods and services, nor contributing toward state and federal budgets, which underlies an even deeper issue of suppression of the truth, about the same time as I became aware of once-American corproations BAILING-OUT on the U.S. It was never enough to have the system manipulated, to shift the tax burden on the American workers, and being given tax breaks. That shift will shortly have the Big 3 and other bail as well, if they already have'nt. Since I know this, rest assured, the last people you voted for, are very WELL-AWARE of it as well.
This is an American problem, not Republican, Democrat, or other party.
These corporations have their ass-et-s on U.S. soil and elsewhere protected by the U.S., by who else but, the U.S. military and others, and this should be paid for, not provided without a BILL, not solely paid for by WORKING Americans.