[OT] Re: [TriLUG] Fwd: Safeco moves IT offshore

[Greg Cox]

> One thing is certain. Mr Market will sort this all out. I am
> skeptical that we can do anything politically to remove the power of the
> Internet to move jobs around. If too many jobs go away,however, then 
> other dominoes will fall.  Depending on what you read the economy is 
> on the brink of deflation, stagnation, stagflation, or inflation.

I was reading a book once, I don't remember if it was fiction or not,
and there was a scene of a guy who pulled his money out of an about-to-fail
Depression-era bank.  As he left, he walked by this row of people waiting
to get inside, and someone asked, "Did you get your money out?"  He didn't
answer, just kept walking, lest everyone jump him and mug him.

The thing that got me in that scene was not the desperation of the
people in line, but that the guy realized that the rules had changed
and played it correctly.  They weren't in a polite society.  They were
playing by lifeboat rules.


This is part of the cycle.  As knowledge and resources leave the
hands of the privileged, there's going to be a larger pool to draw
from.  That 'Open Source Revolution' cuts both ways: it used to be
hard to get hold of resources to learn tech skills.  Now it's easy,
and more people are going to be passably good at it, and take jobs.
And, yes, some will be non-Americans.

I'm sick of hearing about outsourcing as this huge bane of the geek's
existence.  It's rarely considered in any fashion other than "Them Thar
Fur-ners Took Our Jorbs!!1!" that people take personally.  It's rarely
noted that knowledge always gets out and dilutes the monopoly of the
innovator.

The job market is a very large, complex game, and it's sad to see
people not realize that the tech market is exceptionally volatile,
not realize the rules have changed (and will continue to change)
quite rapidly.

So much for American Ingenuity: we've forgotten how to adapt and/or
feel a Sense of Entitlement that we shouldn't have to adapt.