RE: US Jobs

 
The culture of corporate America has completely changed from valuing their
employees (1950's) to taking a global view.  It is all being driven by their
costs and the bottom line.  The value added by the American skilled worker
is not in the equation.  

Ford Motor Company is laying off 50,00 - 75,000 workers.  These factory
workers making $27/hr will never make those earnings again in their lives.
Many will end up working in retail at less than $10/hr.  And benefits are a
thing of the past.

Hillary Clinton used NY tax dollars to help a startup consulting company in
Buffalo New York.  Of the 150 new jobs created only 3 are held by US
citizens.  From Albany NY West well into the Midwest states manufacturing
was the engine that grew this country, not any more.

My main client, a Fortune 300 company is investing heavily in a new plant in
China.  And they are rapidly moving to outsource their large datacenters.
They already sent their application development to India.  The buzz word
they use in their newsletters is 'lean operations'.

My small city in upstate NY had 3 large factories (national brands) 15 years
ago.  Two have closed and the 3rd is now foreign owned.  In this entire
region, once strong in manufacturing, no manufacturing growth has occurred
in years.  Major employers like G.E., Carrier Air Conditioner, Kodak, Xerox
have either closed or are only a small percentage of their past size.

What I'm saying is this is not just an I.T. problem.  It is not a problem of
skills in the work force.  What is happening is that the economy has become
global.  This means that pay rates will find an average over a much larger
base.  Since we were the top of the scale we will drop the most to reach the
mean. 

We need to be careful as our standard of living is surely going to fall.  We
can't afford the $350 billion we have spent on the war with no end in sight.
Remember it was not bullets that ended the Cold War, it was Russia going
bankrupt.  I well remember when I was a kid, hearing about how the work week
had been reduced over the last hundred and fifty years to 40 hours.  The
expectation was that it would continue to shorten.  Little did anyone think
that it would be because of the lack of work.  

Government and the heads of industry must rethink about their 'long term'
investment.  If they invest in America they are investing in us.  I tell the
people I work with that investing in China is such a short term view.  In 20
years China may well be our enemy and they will loose everything they built
there.

The bottom line is it costs less to do business else where.  Yes, you get
what you pay for.  One of my favorite saying is this.

Fast, Cheap, or Good
Pick ONLY Two

If you want it fast and cheap, the results will not be good.  
If you want it fast and good, it's not going to be cheap.  
And, if you want it cheap and good, it certainly won't be fast.

Lets put 'good' back into the bottom line because it's right.


Another common justification for everything is 'it's the money'.  OK, so
lets spend the money here and see why we can build with it.



--
Doug Hart