And so continues the steady erosion of the middle class. A few observations. We all know that 3rd world countries typically have no middle class to speak of. However, thanks to outsourcing, the middle class in some of those countries is slowly starting to bud while ours at home is getting squeezed. Therefore, it seems that the U.S. and like-minded countries are not only outsourcing production and jobs. They may well be in the midst of slowly outsourcing a large piece of an entire socioeconomic stratum. That's a fairly major thing when you take a moment to think about it. No doubt, however, officials are hard at work earnestly redefining what constitutes a 3rd world country so as to exclude themselves from such a definition when the process nears completion. Ingenuity at work.
It is: how many gifts are there relative to the labor demand picture over the next 15 years ? Perhaps you should set up a scholarship fund ? My company did. When will yours ?
I think you're saying that Japan outsources work to US so we should disallow that. If Japan is full of qualified auto assemblers and they are starving, obviously its not right for Japan to outsource auto work to US and let Japanese people starve to death. But if they choose to do that, we might only object but not pass a law. Who are we if Japan wants to not care for their people? Right now, if there are qualified IT workers in US and they are starving, US should feed them first before feeding other countries (ie outsourcing). I think that people are too much into TV infomercials that portray that there are starving and unfortunate people only in other countries. So, educated people in this countries get their degrees without ever knowing that there are really starving hardworking people in this country. There are families in OH, for example, that struggle to buy milk and baby supplies, stand in lines, work two jobs etc. Now, if I live in OH and want to start a restaurant, I have a moral obligation to help people around me first. If anybody does not understand the basic concept of helping poor people around you first before people in other countries, then s/he got an education that made him/her even more ignorant. I am not saying you meant all this, but making logical conclusions that might apply to some people
Here are my 2 cents. Things today change a lot faster than most people are use to. The trouble that the middle class is going to have is that where before you could be a secretary for 20 years now you have instant messaging and your job is no longer as important and therefore less pay will be dervided from it. That is just an example but it will continue. We have exported manufacturing so what is the middle class to do? Here is my answer. More entrepreneurs. People will need to figure out ways to create smaller low overhead businesses where you are not competing with an overseas labor force. The only solution is good old fashioned out of the box thinking. Like the guy who did girls gon wild, there are tons of examples like that in all ranges. People like familiarity but it will never go back to go to school get a degree and then a job and work your way up the ladder. Those days are long gone. The only solution is adaptation. What is cool is that this is already happening looking at all the bloggers out there with adds on their blogs etc. The middle class war has been going on for a long time. Again just my 2 cents.
The article actually asks a very simple question - What's the point of globalization, outsourcing etc, why is it touted as a good thing if 90% of the country are worse off? I am yet to see an answer.
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion...0,2086730.column?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines And so, in a town where local pollster Tim Hibbetts says the political spectrum usually ranges from "liberals to strong liberals to ultra-liberals to leftists,"
Well .... if you need to stoop to girls gone wild to start a business you are probably looking at market niche saturation. How many porn vendors can the world accommodate ? And, is this really how you want your society structured ? There really is a path for going to school, getting a job, and working hard and progressing. The issue is that there is less and less benefit to doing so: without innovation and job creation in durable industries and endeavors you may well get your wish of a world of pornography vendors ....
I was a student without funds and offer my comments from that perspective. The thread began as commentary on the plight of middle class America. I do not see access to reasonably-priced college education as a significant factor in that regard.
My point was that they guy who started girls gone wild, did it when there was PLENTY of saturation in that market yet, like Poppa John in Pizza he found a niche and exploited the crap out of it. The traditional middle class approach to feeding one and his/her family is what is changing. Don't get hung up on examples and look at the big picture. The girls gone wild thing turned into a VERY high paying job. He skipped the middle class all together. High paying secure jobs for other people is a dying breed.
Of course it is a factor .... Having taught at a couple of universities I know the score. Many of the students that came through my doors had little time to study after working their 40 hour low paying jobs because they had no other alternative. Some of them made it, a lot of them did not and in most of those cases the difference was money plain and simple. At the core of middle class america is an educational burden imposed upon them largly by large coporations and lobbyists in washington. Market forces driven by demographic changes over the next few years will partly fix this problem. In the meantime i think that forward thinking companies and communities will amend their own training and educational systems to lower the costs of their future customers and citizens.