Points to Ponder

Thomas L. Friedman, "China and India have been catching up to America not only via cheap labor and currencies. They are catching us because they now have free markets like we do, education like we do, access to capital and technology like we do, but, most importantly, values like our Greatest Generation had. That is, a willingness to postpone gratification, invest for the future, work harder than the next guy and hold their kids to the highest expectations. In a flat world where everyone has access to everything, values matter more than ever. Right now the Hindus and Confucians have more Protestant ethics than we do, and as long as that is the case we’ll be No. 11"

Martin Peretz, "Why do not Muslims raise their voices against these at once planned and random killings all over the Islamic world?" This world went into hysteria some months ago when the Mossad took out the Hamas head of its own Murder Inc. But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse"

Steven R. Pearlstein - Since 2007, the manufacturing and construction sectors have each lost 2 million jobs, with finance, hospitality and retailing accounting for 2 million more .. For the past two decades we have allowed our industrial and technological base to deteriorate as talent and capital were grossly misallocated toward other sectors of the economy, even as other countries were able to attract the investment, the technology and the know-how to serve the U.S. and global markets

“Our community focused on education, not politics,” said R. Chandramogan, a Nadar entrepreneur who built India’s largest privately owned dairy company from scratch. “We knew that with education, we could accomplish anything.” Southern India has rocketed far ahead of much of the rest of the country on virtually every score — people here earn more money, are better educated, live longer lives and have fewer children

Go Ohio!

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland of Democratic Party, banned outsourcing, arguing that this undermines economic development and has unacceptable business consequences for his state. "Outsourcing jobs does not reflect Ohio values," he said.

Indian IT companies, which derive almost 60% of their export revenues from the USA immediately cried, "foul". The Infosys Chief called the Ohio stance "protectionist".

Like US owes them 60% of their revenue! At the cost of our jobs! Why should we not protect our work-force? Why should we send monies abroad instead of keeping them within our own country?

Why should America support globalization is the question? They need us, we don't. They do the work for us which we taught them to do with the software we design and make, so go Ohio, and hope other States follow, soon.

Foxconn: America's High-tech Manufacturing Nemesis

A very large percentage of Americans have not heard of Foxconn, yet it plays a big role in how we talk, play, create, transmit and store data - basically about as integrally tied into our lives as bottled water, except people who make bottled water in America earn more than the average $176 per month Foxconn pays it's employees.

Apple, IBM, Cisco, HP, Dell have their products manufactured by Foxconn, and the rationale is that it makes PCs, Routers, Phones affordable for American consumers. Cheap products can't compensate for the emotional and economic cost of  lost jobs - should we have better paying jobs and a well off country or be on the verge of insolvency nation full of cheap imported stuff?

Here's the Foxconn story - a chapter in the saga of Americans making Americans redundant: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_38/b4195058423479.htmjobs

Barak Obama's Labor-day speech

Obama's speech

"I don’t want to see solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars made in China. I want them made right here in the United States of America. I don’t want to buy stuff from someplace else. I want to grow our exports so that we’re selling to someplace else — products that say “Made in the U.S.A.”

Amen! Hope he means it and pray that he can deliver it.

Land of Opportunity turning barren

Rex Nutting says in Marketwatch, "With millions of people twiddling their thumbs waiting for a job, the Land of Opportunity is in danger of becoming barren. Nearly three years into our economic wilderness, we still can't seem to find our way out. Fifteen million Americans are looking for work, and most of them know the job they once had is gone for good. Millions more are working, but need something better than part-time hours or a dead-end job .... "

But Rex pointedly misses or declines to mention the direct corelation between our trade deficit (and the resultant job exports), and American unemployement rate (and the consequent decline in the quality of life of lower middle class Americans which is also in direct proportion to the rise of the new lower middle class in India and China).

Unless we sell more than we buy we will be broke - so its time we go back to school for Adam Smith and Economics 101 because we've obviously forgotten the basics.

A case for stimulus

"OUR national debate about fiscal policy has become skewed, with far too much focus on the deficit and far too little on unemployment" - Laura Tyson

Ms. Tyson's essay merits attention but doesn't address the American need fully. China and India are rich because they export product and import opportunity. We need to copy that economic model because ours is not working.

The Onion says

Still not even a twinkling of light at the end of the tunnel for the unemployed and under-employed Americans and for the general prospects of American economy. But rather than citing more morose facts, here's the Onion on our state of economic affairs:


Treasury Department Issues Emergency Recall Of All U.S. Dollars