Readers Report
What Happens When American Jobs Slip Away?
Re ("Is your job next?" Cover Story, Feb. 3): We blue-collar workers have been telling you white-collars for more than 20 years that we all should be buying American. But no one listened. You white collars had to have your imports while bad-mouthing American products. You never looked back until it was too late. Hop into the lifeboat with us--hope you can find a seat.
Thanks. I needed that.
John Fisher
Hawthorne, Calif.
Who started the myth that only low-level programming jobs would leave the U.S.? Software designers start out as programmers. The best move up the ladder into software-engineering jobs. It is nearly impossible for a nonprogrammer to design software. If they succeed in shipping the programmer rungs offshore, guess what: All the software designers will be in India--and the U.S. will be paying dearly for their services.
Brian Lafferry
Addison, Tex.
In the tool-and-die business, I witnessed firsthand in 1982 the outsourcing of mold-building overseas. It took 20 years to move these highly skilled jobs offshore, but that was only because communication was such a problem. Now, with modern communications and an in-place network of offices, I believe it will only take two to three years to get the knowledge industry offshore.
Gary W. Chmielewski
Bryan, Ohio
You say we may retain jobs in "higher-value industries" and that "our competitive advantage may shift to other fields." Like what? If we lose engineering, finance, architecture, computers, management, business operations, sales, etc., what are we all going to do?
I personally don't know many people who provide cutting-edge biotech research and development. Do you?
James P. Wolowicz
Harrisburg, Pa.
What are the chances that shareholders will see even greater cost savings by having the next tier of jobs, i.e., senior managers and executives, also go overseas? No doubt millions upon millions of dollars can be saved by employing less expensive CEO substitutes abroad.
Yvette Tazeau
San Jose, Calif.
What has been overlooked in all the worries about global outsourcing is the powerful impact it will have on American entrepreneurship. Global outsourcing dramatically changes the economics of the startup. Entrepreneurs can now plug in call centers, IT centers, and a range of other services at very low cost and have a scalable platform within months--not the years it would normally take. When venture investment returns, we will see a flourishing of companies growing at a pace that will make the '90s startup look like a slow-motion video.
Jack D. Hidary
New York
A true measure of a country's leadership position and prosperity is its inflow of monetary and human capital. This happens only when the intangible as well as tangible infrastructure of the country is superior--a just and open legal and economic system, efficient capital markets, high-quality educational, health, cultural, and recreational services, etc. If America's business and political elite concentrate on strengthening and renewing the U.S.'s physical and intangible infrastructure, American prosperity is assured. No matter how many jobs disappear, others will replace them.
But when China can complete a 30-mile magnetic-levitation urban transit system in Shanghai in two years, while in New York City, an ancient monorail system of less than 10 miles takes five years to build and crashes in its first trial run, let us remember that it is our concern with saving jobs rather than building infrastructure that destroys more and better jobs.
Rajan K. Pillai
Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
The rest of the world has a love-hate relationship with America. Resentment in the extreme leads to terrorism. Brainpower, determination, education, hard work, and advances in telecommunications are giving citizens in low-wage countries the ability to compete with Americans in the capitalist marketplace. Short-term losses for Americans are painful, but the long-term result will be a healthier and safer world economy. Trade between countries is a net positive. People don't kill their customers.
Randy Kirihara
Bloomington, Minn.
America has taught the world that the liberation of productive forces in an open economy creates tremendous value. So, rather than focus on the loss of a few less-productive jobs, BusinessWeek should celebrate the world's net gain.
Gandhi advocated autarchy, or absolute sovereignty, but had India insisted its people become weavers and farmers rather than figure out how to add value internationally, it would not now be the world's largest software exporter.
Instead of panicking U.S. workers, BusinessWeek should help them retool for an evolving economy.
Brian Maddox
Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
The FCC's Chance to Ease the Way for Broadband
In "The FCC: It's show time for Michael Powell" (Washington Outlook, Jan. 13), the statistics attributed to Corning Inc. are based on an economic study conducted by Cambridge Strategic Marketing Group (CSMG). They refer to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) spending only. A key finding of the CSMG study is that FTTH would be deployed to six times more homes over the next decade and that an additional $41 billion would be invested by incumbent carriers if unbundling requirements are not extended to FTTH. The unbundling regulations imposed in the wake of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 have had the unintended consequence of inhibiting broadband deployment. The FCC now has an historic opportunity to address these issues in its ongoing proceedings.
Wendell P. Weeks
President and Chief Operating Officer
Corning Inc.
Corning, N.Y.
The Consequences of Metaphor
Twice in your Jan. 27 edition--in "A Bushie who doesn't drink the Kool-Aid" (Books) and in "A scapegoat named Steve Case" (Editorials)--you used the metaphor "drink the Kool-Aid" to suggest deep commitment to a belief. More than 900 Americans, many of them children, died in the mass murder/suicide at the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project in Guyana on Nov. 18, 1978. They left behind thousands of friends and relatives who shudder every time they hear this phrase. The dead that day also included a U.S. congressman and several journalists. Twenty-five years from now, will you speak of "pulling a 9/11" or "knocking down the Trade Center" to signify a well-executed plan? Please amend your stylebook to consign this hurtful phrase to obscurity.
Doug Ellice
Bethesda, Md.
Editor's note: The writer served at the U.S. embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, from 1978-80.
Who Thought Up "What Would Jesus Drive?"
"Don't tread on me--or my SUV" (News: Analysis & Commentary, Jan. 27) incorrectly credits the Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign as the creator of the What Would Jesus Drive? campaign. While we shared a joint press conference, the WWJD campaign and Web site is the effort of the Evangelical Environmental Network. The Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign is a coalition effort of the National Council of Churches and the Coalition on the Environment & Jewish Life (www.protectingcreation.org).
Douglas Grace
Director
Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign
Washington
Canadians Fought--and Died--to Rout the Taliban, Too
I was quite surprised to read in "Foreign Policy: Bush's new pragmatism" (News: Analysis & Commentary, Jan. 20) that the U.S. and Britain singlehandedly rooted out the Taliban from Afghanistan. I can assure you that Canada, though small in population, contributed both armed-forces personnel and several ships to the Afghanistan war. Some of our troops, it should be remembered, were killed by U.S. Air Force pilots in a friendly-fire accident.
Paul St. Amour
Houston
|
Copyright 2003, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
Printer-Friendly Version
