On Fri, 18 Nov 2005 21:47:48 GMT, "Emmo" wrote:

We just didn't know what the consequences were going to be...

Back in 1982, when I got out of business school as a newly minted MBA, it
was very clear to me that making textiles and shoes in lower cost countries
was the right thing to do for all kinds of reasons. Now, 23 years later,
having spent all that time in the software industry, I have fallen victim to
the same process.

I have been out of work for nearly two years. The software industry is
virtually dead in this country, unless you work for Microsoft. Just spoke
with a partner in a law firm that has started sending all of their
para-legal work to India as well. Tax returns are being processed there,
and insurance forms. I recently posted what to me is an amazing fact - there
are more English speakers in India than there are in the U.S., and many of
them are quite skilled in coding, tax, and legal work. There is a zero
incremental communications cost, and the time difference actually adds to
efficiencies, as the work is being done while we are sleeping, i.e. a day
faster than it could be done in the U.S., never mind the incredible cost
savings.

I am stuck. I have spent most of my savings from the good years, I am in
the process of selling my house, and I am searching for something else to do
for the next 16 years, (I am 51), until I can collect all that Social
Security that is waiting for me ha!...

I am a smart guy, but I see no way out for myself, nor for the country as a
whole... We are the next England... I certainly don't see any role for the
government in changing any of this, other than making things worse...


Greetings Emmo,
I find you post to be somewhat ironic. I started the machinist trainee
thread. I had to fire the trainee because of poor attendance. But I
still want to train someone, maybe lots of someones, to be
metalworkers. Since you are posting to a metalworking newsgroup why
not use your talent to make something out of metal and sell it?
Really. As a smart guy I'm sure if you look around you will find a
product that is not being made. Could be welding on lawnmower decks.
Or welding statues. Maybe custom iron fences and gates. Never mind
about the custom iron work. That's why I bought that plasma cutter.
The key though is manufacturing. Software is cheap to do anywhere in
the world. Almost no expensive tooling. And practically no shipping
cost. And even though everything is being made in China now it doesn't
make econimic sense for tiny run jobs. Like a set of custom gates with
the silhouette of the owner's poodle cut out of a sheet of steel and
beaten with a hammer so that it looks like wrought iron. Make stuff
that is too expensive to make one off in another area and shipped to
the final user destination.
ERS