OT Food for thought

Jon writes:
I'm ready for flames. I understand the downsides of protectionism
and all that. All I'm saying (as I did for a different topic way
back when rw was touting a Linux stock) is we're in a Ponzi scheme.
We live at a standard that is unsustainable, as it is achieved through
unsustainable "optimizations"

What flames? It seems you have presented a perfectly logical explanation of the
current American economy. When I think of the level of personal debt
accumulating, I shudder at the crash. It will come, and sooner than most
imagine....
Oh, and it WILL be ugly.
Tom

"Jonathan Cook" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
m...
SNIP
Outsourcing is inherently an unsustainable mechanism. It only
benefits those who use it first. A good question to ask oneself
when deciding whether to do something or not is "what would
happen if everyone did it?".

SNIP

This apparently dangerous tendency is now rampant all over the Western
world.Unemployment is running ever higher, economies are slumping,
governments waste time and money trying to control things outside their
power, or lining thweir own pockets, and all the while, crime and other
problems are increasing rapidly. Trade unions are losing all their political
clout, and globalisation advances every day.

The world population is steadily increasing, and more and more resources are
getting close to the "bottom of the pot". The Western world is living far
above its means.

This however, has been the case since the beginning of the industrial
revolution, but the ball was not rolling quite so rapidly, or on such a
huge scale. Massive advances in communications technology, in which we are
at present taking part on this group, are also playing a major part in this.

There is really no telling where it will end. Best case would be a unified
world, with a controlled population, and equal opportunity.

Worst case? I have no idea. Global war maybe?

TL
MC

In article , Mike-
says...
This apparently dangerous tendency is now rampant all over the Western
world.Unemployment is running ever higher, economies are slumping,
governments waste time and money trying to control things outside their
power, or lining thweir own pockets, and all the while, crime and other
problems are increasing rapidly. Trade unions are losing all their political
clout, and globalisation advances every day.

The world population is steadily increasing, and more and more resources are
getting close to the "bottom of the pot". The Western world is living far
above its means.

.....dogs and cats, living together....

Seriously, western world is definitely living above it's means, but much
of the rest is rather melodramatic. At least in the US, crime has been
dropping fast, population growth in the western world is slowing (some
areas of Europe are already worrying about their populations
decreasing).

- Ken

Outsourcing assumes that those who produce the product cannot
afford to buy it. Or, put another way, it's goal is to pay wages
to build a product lower than it takes to make someone a consumer
of the product.

There are two major reasons for the current outsourcing mania:

1. The "Wal-Mart" syndrome. As wages in the U.S. drop because the "real" jobs
are gone, prices of goods must be reduced so that the average consumer can
still afford to buy. This is accomplished by outsourcing and by economy of
scale. How much longer before Wal-Mart is the only store left.

2. Return on investments. The pressure is on corporate CEO's not only to show a
profit, but to maximize profits, basically to satisfy investors with short
attention spans who seek instant gratification from the stock market. Ever
notice how a stock climbs after a company announces a layoff?

Eventually this bubble, like the hi tech bubble is going to burst. When the
manufacturing jobs started going overseas, the word was that all was well, and
we would develop a "service economy". Now the service jobs are going too. The
momentum is such that it seems unlikely it can be stopped in the foreseeable
future, but it somehow has to be slowed down long enough to formulste a
strategy to keep work here, and that ain't gonna be easy. Try explaining to the
average consumer why the digital camera that used to cost $200 is now $600.



George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller

Thanks Ken

Interesting info........

Bill Kiene (in FL)

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
m...
I don't often find myself in agreement with Thomas Friedman and I'm
not sure if I'll end up agreeing with this column, but it did cause
me to think of outsourcing in a different way. This will be of little
consolation to those whose jobs have disappeared, but it is food for
thought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/opinion/26FRIE.html

Also in today's Times, (scary **** this ;-), a front page article
on Max Cleland that could have been culled from the pages of roff,
well, with a little bit of editing and a whole lot of cleaning up. ;-)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/po...gn/26CLEL.html

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote in message
m...
I don't often find myself in agreement with Thomas Friedman and I'm
not sure if I'll end up agreeing with this column, but it did cause
me to think of outsourcing in a different way. This will be of little
consolation to those whose jobs have disappeared, but it is food for
thought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/opinion/26FRIE.html


--
Ken Fortenberry


Dateline 2012

In an expected move most large US corporations announced that they
were following the logical trend and outsourcing all of their
customers to Europe and Asia.

One source was quoted as saying:

"It's a dynamic new business model, since we offshored our jobs to
India and the Phillipines there aren't enough US consumers left that
can afford our products.

Fortunately, Europe protects their worker's jobs so they can still
purchase, and now that the incomes of the south and east Asians have
increased dramatically, due to Offshoring, we see tham as an exciting
new market."

Ken Fortenberry wrote in news:jQo%
:

I don't often find myself in agreement with Thomas Friedman and I'm
not sure if I'll end up agreeing with this column, but it did cause
me to think of outsourcing in a different way. This will be of little
consolation to those whose jobs have disappeared, but it is food for
thought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/opinion/26FRIE.html

Also in today's Times, (scary **** this ;-), a front page article
on Max Cleland that could have been culled from the pages of roff,
well, with a little bit of editing and a whole lot of cleaning up. ;-)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/26/po...gn/26CLEL.html


Now, Paul Krugman's editorial in todays Times, I'm right on board with.

Scott

From: (Greg Pavlov)

On 27 Feb 2004 14:11:20 GMT, ojunk (George Adams)
wrote:

Actually, the biggest hue and cry in the U.S. comes from the unions, who
tradtionally vote the liberal ticket.

... like Ronald Reagan's and George Wallace's....
If you're talking about the leadership, on the other
hand, you are probably right.

What with elections coming up, both parties have been crying over the loss of
jobs to outsourcing, and giving lip service to some solution, but I doubt that
either one is sincere. Sincerity is a scarce commodity in an election year.

Some unions, especially law enforcement types, tend to vote Republican, but to
my knowledge, trade and labor unions usually vote the liberal ticket. Reagan?
After he busted the Air Traffic Controllers union he was on organized labor's
hate list.


George Adams

"All good fishermen stay young until they die, for fishing is the only dream of
youth that doth not grow stale with age."
---- J.W Muller