Thomas Friedman on hyper connectivity, the super wealthy and why being average won't get you far.

[HughBeaumont]

9. Do I have to explain YET AGAIN why this guy is the most ginormous tool walking?

Last edited Thu Dec 29, 2011, 07:45 AM - Edit history (1)

Horatio Alger is BULLSHIT. Not every human being can be J.K. Rowling, particularly in the area of circumstance.

Thomas Friedman himself didn't even rely on the Horatio Alger nonsense he's spouting . . . he married INTO wealth.

The war shilling, job-offshoring tool known as Thomas Friedman bought into all of the utter booooolshite Indian execs sold him - "Americans better wake up and smell the coffee - innovate or die." "Free Markets" "Devote your lives to your work as we have". Also, to say that the problem rests solely on American schools and lack of motivation to learn math and science (using, in other words, the tired Repuke "blame the worker" canard) is silly and short-sighted.

This ignores the fact that the Third World also have universities, just like we do (they can even use ours). They have the same knowledge as we do. They can attain any degree that we can, and their numbers are far greater. They're only remarkable for their cost. They aren't more talented. They don't work harder. They're simply cheaper. Don't let anyone sell you a line of free market CEO horseshit - this is a zero-sum game all the way, and we will never be the winners.

In previous columns and in his numerous books about the wonders of globalization, free trade (and, implicitly, offshore outsourcing of American jobs,) Friedman celebrates the movement of industrial and high technology work out of the United States to nations such as India and China. He considers this situation a "win-win" for Americans but he can't point to "21st-century jobs" created in the U.S. for Americans as a consequence of offshore outsourcing. (Sorry Tom, the growing number of low-skilled and low-paying nontradeable services jobs in the U.S. economy are not the "21st-century" jobs you imagine.)

In his books, Friedman noted well-known "American" corporate branded products in use by Indian companies and employees engaged in doing work once performed in the U.S. by American workers. Based upon the simple appearance of some familiar brand names on the products in evidence, Friedman announced in triumph that "American products" were being consumed by Indians - a "win" for American workers.

The truth that Friedman forgot to share or was to ignorant to discern is that the only thing "American" about the products was their brand names; the computers and bottled water used by the Indian offshore workers were likewise made offshore with foreign labor. (Even the "innovative" and "knowledge age" development of the products is increasingly done offshore by non-Americans.)

He fails to either acknowledge or comprehend the fact that the very outsourcing and "free trade" policies he has breathlessly praised are at the core of why Americans cannot compete for the "21st century jobs". The "flattening" of which Friedman speaks is the result of political action -- laws which have enabled American corporations to simultaneously move work offshore while continuing to sell goods and services produced by foreign workers in the U.S. market without restriction. Businesses are able to offshore jobs and pay Third World wages while continuing to sell the goods and services at "American prices".

What are OUR new 21st century careers? Hate to break it to you, but these careers are going to require training. YEARS of training, not months. I need to know NOW what they are and make sure they're stayin' put for a while . . . at least until corporate America ships THAT overseas as well. Until you have something better than the mediocre-paying service industry (like Davy Dreier stupidly espoused in that report of his during the Bewsh years), you're pretty much buyin' into a gamble.

Competition has absolutely NOTHING to do with this problem. If that were the chief reason, why are so many IT/Telecom professionals either out of work or leaving the field entirely? It's all about COST. They're cheap. We're expensive. Well, not really, since the average American income has only risen $2,000 in real dollars since 1970 and we work 80 hours longer. $20-25k per year is a king's ransom over there. Here, it's poverty, even in Arkansas.