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Melvin's blog
Nshima & Curry
Melvin's Blog
Nshima & Curry
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OUTSOURCING OUR WORK TO INDIA
The hot topic in America these days, other than terrorism
and gay marriage (which some people seem to dread equally),
is outsourcing. American companies are moving thousands of
jobs abroad, not just low-wage jobs but also the ones
performed by high-skilled workers, some of whom are earning
so much money, they qualify for the president's tax cuts.
(There's nothing like a little tax relief to help pay for
the Lexus.)
Many of the jobs are going to India and China, where people
are delighted to work for a sixth of what an American worker
would earn, failing to realize, in their excitement, that
their children might have to do without cell phones. Not to
mention separate bathrooms.
Some experts believe that outsourcing is good for America's
economy, that other jobs will be created to replace the ones
being lost. This is already happening to an extent, with
hundreds of people being hired to provide counseling for the
unemployed. Other new jobs include outsourcing coordinators,
Mandarin translators, and used Lexus salesmen.
But outsourcing has angered some politicians and labor
unions, who want to see it outlawed. They're concerned,
naturally, that America will lose too many jobs, that the
only jobs we'll be left with are nose jobs.
They don't want American workers to fall victim to corporate
greed and unfair competition. Indeed, the rules of
employment are quite different in some countries: You don't
get any benefits, you don't have something called "FICA"
deducted from your paychecks, and you don't have to buy
cookies from your co-workers' children.
Even so, I'm reluctant to denounce outsourcing, not because
it benefits the economy, but because I've come to realize,
after much research, that I can outsource my column. From
now on, it will be written by a man in India named Raj
Balakrishnan. He's agreed to email a new column to me every
week and I've promised to send him a monthly check for a
couple of grand. That's rupees, not dollars, but he'll be
happy with it, just as I'll be happy with the remaining 80
percent of what editors pay me. It's a win-win situation. He
writes the columns, I write the checks, we both look
employed.
If Raj works out (he has a good sense of humor, but a
bad sense of grammar), I hope to outsource another task to
him: visiting my in-laws. It's a tough job, but someone has
to do it. I've given him an incentive: He can help himself
to any goodies my mother-in-law cooks -- as long as he
remembers to send me 80 percent.
As you can see, outsourcing does have some benefits. In the
long run, it could improve many products and services.
America has been quick to exploit free trade and the
global economy -- you can find American products almost
everywhere -- and it's only fair that some of the developing
countries do, too. Perhaps it will bring a little balance to
the world, help narrow the gap between rich and poor
countries, give a few more Indians the opportunity to make
my life easier.
American workers should have faith that more jobs will be
created here, that they won't have to run across the border
to Mexico. After all, the ingenuity that made America what
it is today can never be outsourced.
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