[nero]

Just read this bit on Counterpunch: Pau Craigl Roberts' CounterPunch Opinion Piece

I found it highly depressing. They're outsourcing design and innovation now. Sounds like I should move to another field. Maybe lawncare, they can't outsource that. Oh wait, yes they can. Doh!

[Trab]

Depending on your future views of the economy, IT-type work will be in less demand in coming years anyway. I am fully expecting to be in a different career in the next 10 years one way or the other.

Start preparing now. Between the need for more sustainable versison of agriculture and housing (at least in North America), there will be other industries that will take over. I'm reading up on these subjects as much as I can, as I'd rather be a foreman than a field hand.

[Jack]

Good article. It will be interesting to see what happens as China grows stronger and begins flexing its muscles. Taiwan will go down with barely a whimper. But what happens when oil producers around the world choose NOT to sell the the U.S.?

More and more, we produce nothing. We are become Eloi, in a world filled with hungry Morloks.

[cador]

China & India's competitive edge is based on the fact that they have people willing to work for pennies an hour.

This competitive edge will disappear once the US economy collapses. The distance between these countries will be too great and the competitive edge will be diminished because of high oil prices (especially for China as it is a manufacturing and export-based economy) .

Where will China & India get their new markets to sell their cheap labor to? Canada is too intertwined with the US economy and will also face collapse. Europe has strict labour laws that prohibit the importation of cheap foreign-made goods.

The only silver lining I see for China & India is the fact that a collapsed US economy will make less demands on the world oil market. But China & India represent 2.4 billion people, whereas the US is only 300 million.

In the next few years, I expect to see lean, angry and formerly middle class Americans wondering what the hell just happened. They are the backbone of the Republican political base. They will either vote extreme right (ala Hitler) or extreme left (ala Lenin). Either way, no amount of stopgap pacifier propaganda by Limbaugh or Hannity will placate them. I fully expect a bloodbath... Civil War II.

[bart]

Weird!

That article was published in CounterPunch, an unashamedly leftist site. But look who wrote the article!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')aul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review.

[nero]

I think it is more likely that the Democratic coalition falls apart. They don't have power so there is less insentive to hold together.

I was struck by Mr. Roberts credentials as well.

In terms of thinking high oil prices will solve the problem because of the long distance transportation issues, I think if you look into it the price for oil would have to go astronomical to make much of a difference. In another thread we were discussing this and figured that the cost of the diesel to transport a tomato across the country is only 1.5% of the price. And that is using Trucks. Bulk shipping is even more efficient and the cost of the bunker crude used to bring a toy from China is a very small fraction of the retail price. The subject is worthy of its own thread

[Trab]

The democrats have gotten themselves into a jam. The DLC's move in the 90's to embrace corporate donors has alienated a lot of the party's traditional (blue collar, labor, etc) base. As long as they stay 'Republican lite' on business issues they will continue to be in trouble.

[mmasters]

I was reading Ruppert's site (so sue me) and I saw an article he had posted which whooshed me.

Here it is:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/aa447f34-f973- ... s01=1.html

It is about how the CEO of IBM argues "the company needs to move towards full global integration of their operations so as to stop the current unease about the forces of globalisation turning into an all-out assault on big business".

And later in the article says, "executives said last week that the move to a global management approach could produce productivity improvements of 3 per cent a year."

So shit, instead of US companies outsourcing to other countries to help with backoffice and manufacturing needs yet keeping the frontoffice in the US....now there is a further movement to move the frontoffice there as well, effectively turning the "satillite offices" into fully functional subsidary entities!

So that's the next stage, just outsource the whole kitten-kabootle!
Forget about white collar jobs in the US!

Sad as it is that makes total sense. Executives on the norm are looking to cash out, save money and profit, so it's icing for them to do this. As well, it's a real strategy for how to deal with the major issue of having different parts of a company in different countries when peak oil and geo-political problems strike hard. It's a win-win strategy in that sense which is why you can totally bet it will happen. However, it's a lose-lose situation for the US economy. Less white collar jobs means less money in circulation and more unemployment. It's amazing how this short-sighted greed is really taking us to the cleaners.

Total whoosh.

Banana Republic here we come!

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')is views could upset many US anti-globalisation campaigners who see offshoring as a threat to US jobs. But to them, Mr Palmisano replies: “These decisions are not simply a matter of offloading non-core activities, nor are they mere labour arbitrage – that is, shifting work to low-wage regions.”

[Kylon]

This is making me afraid of living in the United States more and more.



Oh well, the solution for all of this, is to become a CEO, to start your own business, and outsource labor and make money off of them.

It would be neat if instead of the United States becoming the worlds pile of crap, we become the worlds greatest scientist, entepreneurs, inventors, engineers, and businessmen. A nation of CEOs!

[Atlantean_Relic]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kylon', '
')It would be neat if the United States becomes the worlds pile of crap, A nation of CEOs!

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kylon', '
')It would be neat if instead of the United States becoming the worlds pile of crap, we become the worlds greatest scientist, entepreneurs, inventors, engineers, and businessmen. A nation of CEOs!

[Kylon]

Well, we could always move to India.


Indians actually associate white color skin with superiority, they have sort of an inbuilt racism.


This was due to the fact that the Aryans a long time ago conquered them and were white. Then the Brits conquered them and they were white. Now the Americans are economically dominating/conquering them, and we're white.

So they associate white with social status.


Also, I hear they have very free laws for the upper class. Things are much less restricted, it's a much more libertarian society. So long, of course, as you don't eat beef.

[thor]

When will people realize that companies such as IBM do not exist to do anyone a favor. Minimizing cost and maximizing profits is the modus operandi. That's all you need to know.

[SoothSayer]

Huh?

IBM has operated as an international multi-site corporation for DECADES.

Having huge foreign subsidaries is NOT outsourcing.

Microsoft does it too ... they have the majority of their people and their profits outside the US

[SoothSayer]

Indians actually associate white color skin with superiority, they have sort of an inbuilt racism.

This was due to the fact that the Aryans a long time ago conquered them and were white.

Minor nitpick: the Arya came from Central Asia and so were light skinned but probably not white.

I think that the Indian tendency to respect lighter skin colour originates with the Arab invasions in addition to the Aryan invasions.

Their caste system may also originate from those days - it was a useful form of social control.

The "best" castes have lighter skins and more Arabic appearance.

[Russian_Cowboy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SoothSayer', '[')b]Indians actually associate white color skin with superiority, they have sort of an inbuilt racism.

This was due to the fact that the Aryans a long time ago conquered them and were white.

Minor nitpick: the Arya came from Central Asia and so were light skinned but probably not white.

I think that the Indian tendency to respect lighter skin colour originates with the Arab invasions in addition to the Aryan invasions.

Their caste system may also originate from those days - it was a useful form of social control.

The "best" castes have lighter skins and more Arabic appearance.

[Novus]

In five years none of this is going to matter either way. It will be like the great depression II and big companies like IBM will be mostly bankrupt. It doesn't matter how low your costs are if no one can afford to buy your products. The only thing that will matter is gold and farmland.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DesertBear2', '.')..In 2005 India produced 200,000 engineering graduates, about three times as many as the United States and twice as many as all of Europe. But the really astonishing statistic is this: In 2005 India enrolled fully 450,000 students in four-year engineering courses, meaning that its output of engineers will more than double by 2009.

[Cran]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he only thing that will matter is gold and farmland