RE: [CPF0000] The globalization of COMMON, or is this the right direction?

But where is the "Stuff" made?

An earlier post talked about people in India using Windoze, Intel chips, 
Lucent phones, etc.  From where is all that stuff being exported? Where is 
that stuff being manufactured, and are the people doing the manufacturing 
contributing to the American tax base? That's the bottom line.

We have to look downstream. There is a TV commercial being run at least in 
Chicago, where a middle aged couple are phoning 911 because they think 
someone is breaking into their house. The operator starts asking them if 
they can box, know pressure points or choke holds or jujitsu, because 
there had been a big cutback in school funding. She goes on to point out 
that 85% of all police officers begin their training at local community 
colleges, and that there is now a shortage of funds within these schools. 
It's a humorous way of shining a light on the kind of problem created when 
the tax base is eroded.

Pluta is right on. This is economics 101. People in America need jobs to 
maintain not just their personal lifestyles but also to be able to help 
support through their tax dollars those less fortunate, the community 
services, and the infrastructure of their neighborhoods. 

Even more importantly (to play the psychology card), people need these 
jobs for their own self esteem. Isn't it much more rewarding for someone 
to be able to point at something that he or she had a hand in building, 
than to have a job telling people which aisle to find products 
manufactured in another country.

Those of us in IT have a skewed perspective. We don't actually make 
anything that we can hold in our hands, drive down the street, etc. Ours 
is a world of abstracts, and we can handle that, at least until we lose 
our jobs and have to try to survive doing something else. I can still run 
a bulldozer and drive an 18 wheeler, so I'll be OK, as long as my body 
holds up. How many people in IT have something like that to fall back 
upon?

The manufacturing sector jobs are the foundation of this economy. 
Outsourcing has eroded that foundation dramatically. Our jobs are next. 
Some would say that we are becoming a services oriented economy, but at 
what point do we reach an equilibrium? When we are helping each other find 
stuff on the shelves?