March 28, 2006 at 11:16 am
I don't know if it is still true, but if you wanted a cheap car that had twice the life of any other, never broke down and did better mpg than the competition you bought Japanese.
My Honda did 147,000 miles on nothing more than routine servicing and was still returning 50 miles to the (British) gallon when I crashed it.
My Mitsubishi has just got through 150,000 and is still going strong.
Maybe there was unfair competition in the first place but the quality of the product spoke for itself.
I'm not too worried about outsourcing. My experience is that there is a lack of management competence to be able to make the experience successful.
An external IT developer can only be as good as the spec they receive. I've been in this industry for decades and know that half the skill is in the extraction of genuine requirements from the customer.
March 28, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Look -- it's all very well to say, "this is an opportunity to excel" when it's not your job that's being threatened. Those of us (still the vast majority) whose jobs haven't been considered for outsourcing have the right to vote... but we need to consider making changes to our work agreements which will make us more efficient, more productive, more competitive with international competition, _before_ we talk about throwing the door wide open.
There'll always be room for improvement, and we'll always face the threat of the "race to the bottom" which is the downside of market economics. So we need to be cooperating _now_ with like-minded souls in Europe, India, China, and the other major labor markets to try to build incentives for stability (in employment) and quality (in product) into our working lives, and create a system which rewards employers who expect the best from their workers, but don't expect them to forgo their responsibilities as spouses and parents, do't expect them to forgo retirement planning or, worse, make retirement impossible.
I realize I haven't been 100% clear on this but it's not a simple issue. It's delusional to think that just lowering trade barriers, with no other preparation, will benefit anyone but the possessors of large amounts of capital.
--Phil Sevetson, DBA
March 28, 2006 at 1:45 pm
"The same is true in the manufacturing sector where you have China producing goods at a lower price because of lower labor costs."
And don't forget their government-managed, incredibly low exchange rate. They think this is a guarantee of prosperity... it certainly guarantees them lots of jobs and manufacturing capacity, and helps keep the current government in power. (Prosperity is a bit more elusive.)
March 28, 2006 at 1:46 pm
The problem is that we don't have an even playing field! Try to get a visa as a US citizen to work in India, or any other country for that matter, and see how far you get. The system we now have works as a sort of international welfare, where the US supports other countries by giving US industries away. Yes, some companies (and their shareholders) benefit, but if you work in the industry that is being given away, it can be pretty rough.
Stop outsourcing to countries that won't allow US citizens to move to that country and work. Don't give work visas to citizens of countries that won't give work visas to citizens of this country. I would be happy to live and work in a less expensive country (making a smaller salary), if it was legal for me to do so.
March 29, 2006 at 9:48 am
I honestly didn't know that it's a problem getting a work permit for India...always thought the "flow" was from everywhere else in the world to the U.S - so do you speak from personal experience ?! How tough is it ?!
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**
March 29, 2006 at 11:17 am
Any reference to China is invalid until their currency and piracy issues are
addressed. And there is something terribly wrong for all of us paying for healthcare for green cards here they can't get at home
March 29, 2006 at 12:06 pm
At least America is big enough to form a self-contained market!
Britain is probably the most open place as regards aliens buying up its industries and asset stripping.
I remain convinced the the EU is a club designed to think up stupid rules to see if the British will be crazy enough to try and obey them.
So far was are at super-mega-brain-donor levels of stupidity. Basically, if Sadam Hussein could get to Britain and claim asylum he would have be granted protection under the British implementation of the Human Rights act!
Britain allows foreign companies to buy up its industries without so much as a murmur. Gods I wish I was French!
March 29, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Yes except Paris really is buring
March 29, 2006 at 1:19 pm
In Japan auto industry, every worker works for the company, they don't have auto union, the workers are proud of their products so their goal is to make the best car. It is their culture - loyality. In US auto industry, it is ruled by the auto union, they only worries about the pay check and the benefit, they don't care about the company and the quality of the product. That is one of the reason why the auto industry is going down the hill.
Each quarter the company has to post the profit result to get their stock price up. That's all the upper management cares. If they can save money by outsourcing to China or India, that what they would do. They don't care about the quality of their product or service, it does not matter if the company in China or India does a good job or not, the bottom line is money.
However I think sooner or later it will level off. Many companies already found out outsourcing was not the answer. Also today China and India has cheap labor, but the people in those countries already demand higher pay, so the cheap labor may not be so cheap anymore. Just liked Hong Kong, the labor used to be cheap, now even the company in HK has to outsource to mainland China because of the cheap labor. The jobless rate in HK used to be 1% now it is over 10%. If history repeats itself, the same thing will happen to India and China.
US still has the highest technical skills, there are a lot of talented people. But to keep it going, the country has to work together. Look at how much the company CEO earn! The company just pay attention to the stock price. They should pay more attention to quality of their product and service and set up long term goal ! Enron, WorldComm all went down because of people's greed.
Just my 2 cents.
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