Afraid of the rest of the world
I don't know about you, but I'm afraid of the rest of the world. Okay, maybe not the whole of the rest of the world. Like I'm not particularly afraid of Iceland, Britain, Canada, Italy, Austrailia, or Micronesia. I guess my fear threshold is set below tiny island nations and first world nations. South America and Africa frighten me slightly like a PG or PG-13 horror movie. I guess it is really Asia that scares the bejeezus out of me.
To a certain extent all of these frighten me because I can picture the hemmoraging of jobs away from the United States and into all of these nations where labor is cheap. When it was just manufacturing jobs, it was fine. After all, those are less skilled positions. If you're on the bottom of the job skills ladder, your job stability is always going to be at risk either from technology or other workers. But now that outsourcing is climbing up the corporate ladder it is less fine. After all, now they are talking about My Job. Eventually they could outsource any job. Except cooks, plumbers, and dishwashers, but those are filled by immigrants. The situation reminds me of the quotation from Pastor Niemoller about Nazis and the Holocaust
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
I'm afraid of the impending economic disaster in this country when the price of labor evens out across the globe in part because I seem the price of labor dropping to the lowest denominator not raising to the level of the US workforce. I know that Oliver will not have the same standard of living that I now enjoy. The laws of supply and demand indicate that unless something changes, we won't have nearly the same access to energy as we now enjoy as an example.
Recently my company reached an agreement with two consulting companies based out of India. These two companies are offering consulting services to our company for a fraction of the cost of a US provider because their labor costs are so small. If they can do it for consultants, how long do you think it will be before they start outsourcing actual employee jobs? My job?
My other fear stems from the fanatical fundamentalists. I'm already frightened of the ones that have been put in place in our government. Then there is the matter of all of the fanatical Muslim extremists/terrorists. Is it a stereotype? Yes. Is it accurate that there are Muslim terrorists? Yes. Any time you have a group of people who believe that things will be so much better in the next life that they'll do anything to get there, you create the possibility that they'll do the unthinkable. Whether you are talking about the Crusades, the Inquisition, or someone smuggling in a nuclear bomb, the result is never good. I don't believe that I will die in a terrorist act. I live in St. Louis which even terrorists would count as flyover territory. But that doesn't mean that I'm not in some ways afraid.
To a certain extent all of these frighten me because I can picture the hemmoraging of jobs away from the United States and into all of these nations where labor is cheap. When it was just manufacturing jobs, it was fine. After all, those are less skilled positions. If you're on the bottom of the job skills ladder, your job stability is always going to be at risk either from technology or other workers. But now that outsourcing is climbing up the corporate ladder it is less fine. After all, now they are talking about My Job. Eventually they could outsource any job. Except cooks, plumbers, and dishwashers, but those are filled by immigrants. The situation reminds me of the quotation from Pastor Niemoller about Nazis and the Holocaust
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
I'm afraid of the impending economic disaster in this country when the price of labor evens out across the globe in part because I seem the price of labor dropping to the lowest denominator not raising to the level of the US workforce. I know that Oliver will not have the same standard of living that I now enjoy. The laws of supply and demand indicate that unless something changes, we won't have nearly the same access to energy as we now enjoy as an example.
Recently my company reached an agreement with two consulting companies based out of India. These two companies are offering consulting services to our company for a fraction of the cost of a US provider because their labor costs are so small. If they can do it for consultants, how long do you think it will be before they start outsourcing actual employee jobs? My job?
My other fear stems from the fanatical fundamentalists. I'm already frightened of the ones that have been put in place in our government. Then there is the matter of all of the fanatical Muslim extremists/terrorists. Is it a stereotype? Yes. Is it accurate that there are Muslim terrorists? Yes. Any time you have a group of people who believe that things will be so much better in the next life that they'll do anything to get there, you create the possibility that they'll do the unthinkable. Whether you are talking about the Crusades, the Inquisition, or someone smuggling in a nuclear bomb, the result is never good. I don't believe that I will die in a terrorist act. I live in St. Louis which even terrorists would count as flyover territory. But that doesn't mean that I'm not in some ways afraid.
posted by mypetrock at 11:36 AM
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