Outsourcing problem...

[Chewbaccus]

Okay, I've been pondering this for a few weeks. I'm going to throw it out here, see what the general audience thinks. (And I went through the thread looking for something similar and failed - if this was discussed already, my apologies)

For years now, we've been hearing over and over how the economy is going worldwide, the globalization of the economy, et cetera, et cetera. What struck me the most about outsourcing was how familiar it sounded. In a discussion with a friend, I finally put my finger on it - outsourcing seems akin to a 21st century version of pre-Labor America, when factory bosses could hire and fire workers at will to keep costs down without fear of repercussion.

As Razor said,

I think part of the problem may be just how difficult it is to compete with people in non-democratic, newly industrialized nations. Many countries do not possess minimum wage laws and in countries with low employment rates people will work for anything.

I heard this and things like it and thought "Son of a bitch...white-collar scabs."

I know the concept of a programmers' union probably promotes a chuckle if not outright laughter (hell, maybe even anger), but this is the new and dominating industry, in the process of supplanting Big Industry. If you think about it, picture yourself a farmer 104-110 years ago: up before dawn seven days a week, 365 days a year, working solid from sunup to sundown - in some cases, beyond then. Now, you start hearing about these people, these factory workers in the cities who get paid to do just one or a few things over and over for a fraction of the time you put in out in the fields. To hear that they want to strike and demand better treatment, wages, benefits, so on and so forth would probably promote a chuckle if not outright laughter (hell, maybe even anger).

I could be just talking nuts of course, but every time I think of this, I can't help but see this smudge on the wall...looks like someone wrote something there...