Archives

18 January 2004

Once they're gone, they're gone

Vanishing jobs destined to never return, according to U.S. Labor Department and Forrester Research.
Since 2001, some 2.9 million private sector jobs have been lost, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many of those jobs won't ever return, even as the economy recovers, say experts. What's more, this isn't just true for blue-collar workers at places like Pillowtex.

"It's starting to happen in high-tech professions which we felt were 'ours,'" says Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insights, a consulting firm. "That's what's shocking people."

A new model for work is needed, one that allows all to be productive and share in the economic pie, on both a national and global level. Otherwise, we're in for some cataclysmic consequences, unleashed like a chain of dominoes.

9 January 2004

There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore

So says Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in defending her company's pursuit of off shore migration of high tech jobs. I suppose those nine brave soldiers in Iraq who died today for their country and Ms. Fiorina didn't have any "God given responsibility" either.

It truly is an outrage and total sellout of American workers. Ms. Fiorina and others like Intel head Craig Barrett reap the benefits American taxpayers provide, like the world's top military defense protections, knowledge transfer from public works projects like internet development for example, exporting of intellectual property law to protect their information monopoly realms, and lucrative tax incentives. Furthermore, it's an outright insult on the intellect of our work force, who've studied and trained arduously to take technology positions and now are being pushed out onto the street to fend with hordes of illegal immigrants, now being courted by President W. Bush, when Ms. Fiorina suggests that American tech workers lack the necessary education.

"It's interesting to me that so many people talk about China or India or Russia as being a source of low-cost labor," Fiorina said. "Truthfully, over the long term, the greater threat is the source of well-educated labor. And if you look at the number of college-educated students that China graduates every year, it's close to 40 million. The law of large numbers is fairly compelling."

What a crock!

I can tell you one thing for certain. I'm NEVER going to buy anything made by HP, at least while Ms. Fiorina and others of her ilk are at the helm there.