tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post114667815669187440..comments2024-03-20T16:30:09.690-05:00Comments on The Fifth Column: Bootleg LiquorUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-1148354720301400852006-05-22T22:25:00.000-05:002006-05-22T22:25:00.000-05:00While some could argue the macroeconomics, your fi...While some could argue the macroeconomics, your final point is dead-on: We are addicted to our comforts, and we will sacrifice anything to stay comfortable.<BR/><BR/>As an experiment, I've been avoiding buying things manufactured in China. I just got fed up, reading about the Chinese government's continual harassment of catholics in China, and decide that I'd not materially support the oppression. Man, it's hard NOT to find stuff made in China. If it's made in China, I won't buy it, and there have been a couple situation where it's been very inconvenient, by American standards.Brother Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05697860817229595126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-1147705116418553882006-05-15T09:58:00.000-05:002006-05-15T09:58:00.000-05:00From an economic perspective, there is no differen...From an economic perspective, there is no difference between jobs lost through advancing tech and jobs lost through outsourcing.<BR/><BR/>We cannot say that illegal immigration is a terrible threat to American jobs on the one hand while insisting that illegal immigrants can safely be deported because they make up less than 5% of American jobs. It's one or the other, but it can't be both.Steve Kellmeyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509461318016670424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-1146748812925571292006-05-04T08:20:00.000-05:002006-05-04T08:20:00.000-05:00You just named two industries that are already hea...You just named two industries that are already heavily subsidized by the US government - in other words, they were already non-competitive. We shouldn't subsidize the non-competitives whether auto, airline or agriculture. In other words, you are paying for the lower wages through your taxes - they never have to survive on a level playing field. Import if you can't compete, you help 2 nations (the source company and the country whose needs are met). Illegal immigration is not helping Mexico is not creating any new jobs and costs you money that you could use to purchase imported competitive products with. Agriculture job reductions in the century were mostly due to advancing tech., not outsourcing. IBMs plan works because they are using foriegn workers to support mostly foriegn contracts (International services) - they are mostly a service company now. Google tried to use foriegn workers for US contracts - that was a proven mistake.Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087750301180720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-1146743849425243182006-05-04T06:57:00.000-05:002006-05-04T06:57:00.000-05:00Click on the Walter Williams link in the article. ...Click on the Walter Williams link in the article. He strongly disagrees. <BR/><BR/>As he points out, the percentage of people in agriculture dropped from 41% to 2% of the population between 1900 and 2000. It is not the case that the missing 39% went into technology support for agriculture. Instead, they were retrained into entirely different industries - computers, for instance. To say that Google and Sony failed in their Indian outsourcing does not explain why IBM succeeded. In fact, I suspect it says more about their ultimate economic competence than it does about the advantages of outsourcing in their industry.<BR/><BR/>Also, while the impact of illegal immigrant labor may have only a .5% impact on the US economy as a whole, it has a much larger impact on those niches of the economy that are geographically fixed, e.g., agriculture and home renovation/construction.Steve Kellmeyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509461318016670424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-1146743157966130642006-05-04T06:45:00.000-05:002006-05-04T06:45:00.000-05:00And as every economic indicator shows, illegal imm...And as every economic indicator shows, illegal immigration only has a .5% economic impact on the US (which makes sense since they represent less than 5% of the total population). The only "need" that corporations have for illegal workers is to line the CEOs pocket. If you follow the indicators of the fluctuating gap between employee pay and CEO pay, the fluctuation is largest during the times of greatest illegal immigration. All arguments point towards illegal immigration simply increasing avarice, both on the corporate and consumer sides.Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087750301180720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-1146742151822232722006-05-04T06:29:00.000-05:002006-05-04T06:29:00.000-05:00"...there is no functional economic difference bet..."...there is no functional economic difference between outsourcing a job to Korea and automating that same job through the purchase of a computer whose parts were made in Korea." Actually this has been found to be completely false. Automation simply changes the job by creating new needs. Automated equipment requires someone local to sell the equipment, repair the equipment, and provide technological support locally. That is why the computer boom has created so many new job sectors that didn't even exist 20 years ago, but hit other job sectors hard with layoffs. In effect, in the technological business, making life more efficient takes more people, albeit more cheaply. Outsourcing simply changes location, and by doing so, it actually becomes more inefficient as training costs soar. Ask Google and Sony who outsourced to India and are now back in the US, and according to Forbes they are simply the beginning of the wave of companies coming back to the US. Outsourcing only works for very, very specific job categories.Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08381087750301180720noreply@blogger.com