On Wed, Mar 13, 2019 at 4:49 PM James Knott via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 03/13/2019 11:22 AM, Dhaval Giani wrote:
What is this "good stuff" that is moving offshore? From what I can see, stuff that is higher up the value chain is still in North America, and is still going to remain here. And for a very simple economic reason. It costs the same $ value.
Well, I mentioned 3, IT, lab tests and law. There are others.
For many years, we were promised get an education and you'll always have a job. It appears that no longer holds true as many areas, such as those I mentioned, are moving offshore. What is someone starting out today supposed to do? What will be the next area moved offshore? Even some trades, such as aircraft maintenance are going. We're heading into a situation where more and more people will be unable to support themselves. Take a look at the news to find out about things like wage & wealth inequality, people unable to afford a decent place to live or even put food on the table. And then look at where the money is going. Look at the super wealthy. I mentioned Walmart. In the U.S. they pay many of their employees so poorly that they need social assistance just to live. One figure I recall was that each Walmart employee in Wisconsin costs the taxpayers some $4K per year. Let's not forget that this is one of the wealthiest families in the U.S. being subsidized by the taxpayers. One example of many.
When people talk of cutting costs, they all too often forget about the cost of cutting costs. Guess who it is that all too often is forced to pay for these "savings".
Well sure, and the US is a more complex case than just cost cutting. Offshoring is just one part of it. The other problem is how the immigration system works. In the name of protecting US jobs, you tie work permits to just one company, and artificially lower salaries. With free movement of labour, you are forced to pay market salaries. Why should a company pay for an expensive visa, if the person will just move to the next high paying job, when they can hire locally? Another problem is that people are not willing to pay the actual cost of the goods. If you are to pay the actual cost of labour, the prices are quite a bit higher. An example is a restaurant meal. That labour cost is subsidized by tipping. Either we be ready to pay the actual cost, or we will continue seeing these shenanigans. (Still does not excuse the insane profit margins, but the reality is that as soon as these companies become more humane, the shareholders will drop these companies and the value will drop and our pensions will also drop) Dhaval