Wage Equilibrium

Superman · 10-05-2004, 08:17 AM

Outsourcing. That's the term and concept people are using, but it seems to me that this is probably a matter of economic globalization and the equilibriation (did I just invent a word?) of stuff like wages.

We have some of the world's highest wages, and we're losing jobs, the ones that can easily be outsourced, to countries where wages are a tiny fraction of ours. Technology is driving that. Like when fresh fruit was hard to find in the winter. You could ask a pretty high price for it, even though it was plentiful in the other hemisphere. Now, transporation and food handling technology make New Zeland apples popular and delicious....and cheap.

So, i don't see an end. I think worldwide wages are on their way to a more balanced equilibrium. There is hope that our wages can stay highest, but we will have to kick asses and take names in terms of productivity in order to retain high wages. And even so, wages WILL FALL in this country, or stay flat for a very long time while wages and standards of living rise elsewhere on the Big Ball.

I don't know what our strategy is (I don't actually think we have one, or at least the current, semi-illiterate president certainly would not have one unless his corporate sponsors see some profit opportunity in it...wait a minute...outsourcing IS the strategy. Well anyway....), and I don't know just how this will all play out, but there is something I think we can do. It starts with the letter "E."

Can anybody guess the word I am thinking of? Its a thing that Dubya promised to support and improve....until he got his underwear into the drawers in the Lincoln Bedroom....where he changed his mind and decided to cut funding instead.

Techweenie, Nostatic, Kach22, Michigan and a few others....you're disqualified. I know you know this one. Let's see who else does.

dhoward · dhoward's Garage

:yawn:

Neilk · 10-05-2004, 08:32 AM

educashion?

island911 · 10-05-2004, 08:35 AM

Well, super, I didn't have time to read your post right now . . .

. . .but DAMN if you're not on a rampage lately.

lendaddy · 10-05-2004, 08:58 AM

Yep, Edumacation. Howerever you are full of **** as far as Bush cutting funding. Where do you guys get this stuff? If you're trying to get under my skin today, you're not doing bad

Superman · 10-05-2004, 09:12 AM

Don't know what kind of sarcasm that might be, Island...but I have not changed my mind about how important some of these issues are. I know you think I'm off my rocker. You've been crystal clear.

Fine.

Perhaps some time you would like to join one of our chats. I mean, with something other than cute smiley faces and thinly-veiled, sideways insults that frankly are just too clever for me to even follow most of the time. I mean sometime, if you have a substantive bit of input...join us.

Superman · 10-05-2004, 09:15 AM

No Child Left Behind. You mean you have not heard the saga of the "president's" promises regarding his beloved No Child Left Behind program?

I got a meeting to go to. Perhaps someone could shine a light on Dubya's funding decisions regarding this, or any other education program, for those who have not been made aware. I'll be back.

lendaddy · 09:33 AM

Perhaps you can spend some time looking up the federal education budget. Bush has INCREASED the federal spending on education by obscene amounts. The fact that you rail about cuts makes me laugh. Please show me even ONE cut, you can't. unbelievable.

ubiquity0 · 10-05-2004, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neilk
educashion?

Thats 'edumacashion'!

ubiquity0 · 10-05-2004, 09:37 AM

Proposed 2005 budget give a 3% increase in overall education funding. Its not like Bush is slashing education all ‘round the board, but its also not Iraq-WMD-Al Queda-Iraq his top Iraq-Al Queda-WMD priority. The 3% would be the smallest increase since ’96 (which obviously means that the budget has not been cut over the last 4 years).

mattdavis11 · 09:57 AM

Outsourcing. Seems to me it's a **** or get off the pot situation. I tend to think that it would promote one to do a better job in his or her feild, especially if they are a government employee. I think it is a great idea. We have way too many citizens sucking off of the governments tit as it is. Latley, I have noticed that many employees near me are worried more about their job(s), and less talk about when it's time to punch out for the day. The focus to get the job done and done right the first time seems to be on the rise. This is just my observation, I do not work for the government, but I deal with it everyday. Carry on.

10-05-2004, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lendaddy
Perhaps you can spend some time looking up the federal education budget. Bush has INCREASED the federal spending on education by obscene amounts. The fact that you rail about cuts makes me laugh. Please show me even ONE cut, you can't. unbelievable.

Obviously, the education budget is stored in a locked kryptonite box which we all know Superman's xray vision cannot penetrate. Reliable sources have reported to Mark Wilson that Big Dick Cheney ordered the document locked away in this fashion as another link in the Haliburton world takover thingie.

And I'm unanimous in that.

gaijinda · 10-05-2004, 10:14 AM

Education has always been under local control. So we throw in a few extra bucks on the state level to even things out and have some standards and a few more on this national level for the same reason. Oh yeah, because it gets votes. I mean, who is against kids? By the same token, folks dont want their local schools run by the people who deliver their mail.

And funny enough, with a little power sharing (that comes with the school aid), some novel ideas have come along. Like testing. Shared standards. Not a cure all, but a kick in the teeth that thinks the only was to impove schools is to throw more money into teacher retirement packages..

Like health care, education costs have gone up more than the rate of inflation over the past 30 years. But with healthcare, you have as many advances (drugs, dignostic tests & etc) with public education, you simply do not. I still go back to my elementary school to vote, and in my 41 years on this earth, it the thing and place that has changed the least!

But yes, education is key. Primary, secondary, college, professional develpoment, you name it. But it is not just about money. Cultural additudes are far more important.

And think about it. Is Bush really that dumb? Andover, Yale, Harvard, fighter pilot school? Really, his disability (dyslexia), should not be held against him.

Back to the original topic, wages will balance out according to the work ethic, education and freedoms available. I am not worried, but I am in New York. We get the best and brightest from all over the world!

island911 · 10-05-2004, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Superman
. . I know you think I'm off my rocker. You've been crystal clear. .. .

I just think your leotard is riding a bit high . . .you are a Leo, right?

10-05-2004, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by island911
I just think your leotard is riding a bit high . . .you are a Leo, right?

Did you just call Supe a tard?
Cuz if you did, that's not nice.

Superman · 10-05-2004, 03:52 PM

Sometimes I'm not sure where Island's remarks are coming from or going and other times I can. Cryptic or insulting, is just about all I see. Respectfully.

I'm a virgo.

Interesting, Lendaddy. I'll have to do my homework for a change. Or perhaps I could just make some wild and offensive assertion such that you or someone else would go find the details of those budget decisions and report back. Oops, let the cat out of the bag, didn't I?

dd74 · 10-05-2004, 04:58 PM

Jim - I'm trying to figure out how outsourcing has anything to do with education. I'm not prolific on either subject as might be the other board members, but to me it sounds as if you're equating a solid education as the key toward a person getting a job as a grunt factory worker. With that, in short, your argument's not working for me.

Furthermore, it's always been my experience that education - at the college level at least - is a means toward white-collar employment - which is top of the food chain in corporate America. CEOs, CFOs, etc. aren't currently farmed out to China, AFAIK. As far as transcending the serious student, they aren't going to public elementary through to high school to flip burgers. They're usually in class with the idea their due dilligence and daily grind will pay off in a college education, and after college, a high-level job.

So please, show me where outsourcing and education go hand-in-hand. When I was in high school, the last thing I thought of was building Radio Flyer wagons - which are now assembled in Taiwan.

Superman · 10-05-2004, 05:17 PM

I do really appreciate the question, dd. I'm wondering if this question sailed over everyone's heads (no, I'm not suggesting I'm smarter than anyone). Here's my response: I'm not smart enough to foresee what's going to happen. But I think I see aspects of what's happening. I'm a compensation analyst, in part. Labor relations, you know. And it seems to me that we've got workers here troubleshooting computer systems over the phone, for $14 per hour. Then someone noticed that folks in India can do that for $1 per hour. So, those jobs float over there and our $14 guy becomes part of competition's legacy.

So, how do we solve the problem? Well, Americans have always been inventors. In Japan, they do an excellent job of marketing our inventions, but America is where stuff gets devised in the first place. Unfortunately, intellectual property is hard to protect internationally. So, inventions will be stolen. Still, if you're inventing new stuff fast enough, then you'll always have stuff that has yet to be stolen/marketed.

Also, Americans are managers. We've got a fair grip on first place (or nearly so) in the world at plain "management." But, those clever Asians are pretty darned smart and competitive.

So, what I am saying is that, in the face of a very unknown future, and in the throes of a current attack on our lifestyle and prominent position in the world economic order, what are our options in terms of response/defense. We could pass tarifs. Yawn. We could file lawsuits. Giggle. We could learn how to enjoy cold showers and eat insects, and practice our phone voices. Or maybe we could fight for our economic lives by becoming and staying smarter, better informed, with better thinking tools, than the other guys.

I think that's what we've got to do. We've got to prepare ourselves to stay one step ahead of a very competitive world. Particularly those clever Asians who come here and kick our asses in college classes.

And trust me on this one: The world's financial center in twenty years will be located in China. Guaranteed. It always has followed the manufacturing center, and that's what they're going to be.

dd74 · 10-05-2004, 05:58 PM

Well, we're pretty smart. We have, for the most part, good schools - that is in lieu of countries with no schools - that feed into some major colleges and universities that are world reknown.

We can also still event things. Case in point:

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/

And, I suspect many people can make very good money off an idea like this.

Don't loose hope...