THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: outsourcing jobs to combat terrorism

[GoBlue]

When we hand over low-wage, low-prestige jobs to India or Pakistan, we make a safer world for our own 20-year-olds. http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html

Published: February 29, 2004
BANGALORE, India

Indians are so hospitable. I got an ovation the other day from a roomful of Indian 20-year-olds just for reading perfectly the following paragraph: "A bottle of bottled water held 30 little turtles. It didn't matter that each turtle had to rattle a metal ladle in order to get a little bit of noodles, a total turtle delicacy. The problem was that there were many turtle battles for less than oodles of noodles."

I was sitting in on an "accent neutralization" class at the Indian call center 24/7 Customer. The instructor was teaching the would-be Indian call center operators to suppress their native Indian accents and speak with a Canadian one — she teaches British and U.S. accents as well, but these youths will be serving the Canadian market... (Oh it gets so much better)

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/opinion/29FRIE.html

[Lithos]

1. He's stretching

And it's obvious that he's off into fantasy land.

L-

[Don Claybrook]

2. To summarize

The same guy who thought a war against the people of Iraq would bring stability to all of the Middle East now thinks it's a good idea to outsource jobs, in order to make us safer in the United States. Therefore, we can continue to have an imperialist and aggressive foreign policy, so long as we send all of our jobs away.

Golly, Friedman has the same amount of credibility as the rest of them, which is to say, none at all.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Minor point, but...

...these accolades of how jobs helped improve self-esteem were reported during the Clinton years, when jobs were created for Americans. So exactly why should I get excited about these American jobs being taken away from Americans so that Indians in India can feel warm and fuzzy? Did I miss something in this article?

[wellstone_democrat]

4. He's become quite the champion of outsourcing

Apparently he had a *wonderful* time in India and is a full convert to outsourcing which will solve not only all of our economic problems but political and cultural problems as well.

He is, was, and always will be a loon.

BTW, I get the idea overall that Friedman thinks that the US will become a nation of brain surgeons, astro-physics professors and pundits leaving the "low paying" jobs to "furriners"----not all of us can become this "over class of the world" that he and others seem to envision. Some of us do not have the ability, most of us do not have the means to get the education and credentials.

When Friedman advocates free "retraining" (including support of living expenses) for all of the displaced Americans, then I'll take a look at this wonderful scheme. In the meantime, I heard him once speak of welfare-to-work for women with children as wonderful. Isn't "call center" work (clean, indoors, etc) just the thing for some who have poor education? Especially since he and Bush* believe that sending them to college to get one of those "over class" skills is indulgent.

There is seemingly no end to their illogic.

[The Backlash Cometh]

7. More to the point, if terrorism is his main concern, shouldn't we be

outsourcing to Afghanistan or, now, thanks to Bush, Iraq?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. NPR had a feature on the effect on Indian culture

Indians who work at call centers are embracing the capitalist mantra. They are dating and even living with members of the opposite sex who are also members of different religions. The traditional arranged marriage seems to be going out the window for these people, and their parents are worrying about the change in values. As the gap between these lucky rich Indians and the abject poverty of other Indians grows, unrest is likely to increase.

[question everything]

10. I've just read the first in the series

http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4632066.html

All the computers are from Compaq. The basic software is from Microsoft. The phones are from Lucent. The air conditioning is by Carrier, and even the bottled water is by Coke, because when it comes to drinking water in India, people want a trusted brand.

======

Just wonder whether all the Compaq computers are being made in the U.S.

[MrBenchley]

5. What a frigging moron....

Last time I looked, we weren't hit by terrorists from China or India....

[kalian]

6. Spin it on!

:eyes:

[Jack Rabbit]

9. For more discussion

Please click here.

[MissMillie]

11. Yep, this thread is a dupe

So I'm gonna lock it.

Here's the original thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x37253