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I read this in a certification newsletter that I get, CertTimes.
(Out)Source Code
Let’s cut to the chase here: outsourcing is the act of taking advantage of discrepancies in global currency values to get cheap labor, and nothing more. It isn’t about creating a global workforce, or about helping poorer nations, or about passing the savings down to the consumer. Outsourcing exists so that companies can get cheap labor pools to produce goods and services so that greater corporate profits can be realized. That is it; end of list.
While North American tech companies can obfuscate this issue with pie charts and economics mumbo-jumbo and pseudo-academic studies so slanted they make inclined planes green with envy, outsourcing exists today so that companies can make higher profits.
What’s wrong with making higher profits? Not a damned thing. The purpose of a business is to make profits. If you’re not in business to make a profit, then you are a charitable organization, or a humanitarian concern, or Air Canada.
But, CEO Simba, here is an example of how this particular circle of life is supposed to go:
* Businesses employ people to produce whatever it is that the business produces, be it a good, a service, or god forbid, good service.
* These employees take their paychecks and put money back into the economy by purchasing goods and services from other companies.
* Many of the companies that receive money from these employees will turn around and spend some of this money on goods and services from other companies, including (directly or indirectly) the business that employs the people who spent their money with the other companies—they also pay their employees, who go out and purchase goods and services from other companies.
* Re-read that last bullet point a few times, and if it makes sense, please send me an email and let me know what it is I just wrote.
(I would have supplied a pie chart with the above explanation, but the hour is late, and I don’t want anyone confusing this publication with USA Today.)
My point is that outsourcing, or off-shoring, or pan-geographical human capital re-allocating or whatever the hell the suits are calling it this week, cuts a link out of the chain of the economy, and businesses are just assuming that some magic fiduciary blacksmith will come along and mend it later. Corporations have somehow convinced themselves that a growing number of consumers will continue to buy their goods and services, even while these same companies are cutting domestic jobs and sending growing numbers of workers to the unemployment lines.
Repeat three times after me, boardroom swamis: workers are consumers. If people aren’t working, they won’t buy anything other than the basic necessities of life. Cutting your payrolls down to the bone in order to realize short-term profits is short-sighted, dense, and destructive. It is anti-business.
Now, I have had this conversation with a number of people before, so I know for a fact that someone out there is already wagging a finger at me and is getting ready to slap the race card hazard onto my Milles Bornes stack. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Yes, I am a white male, which means that in today’s current political climate my opinion possesses an untrustworthy quality not dissimilar to a J-Lo engagement announcement. But: the nationality of the people who are having jobs outsourced to them is irrelevant to the economic consequences. Honestly, on a planet of seven billion people, if you search hard enough, you will eventually find someone who is capable and willing to do the work you do, and for less money. That’s not the point.
The point is that outsourcing is a component of the same future-blind business mentality that says there will always be trees to cut down; that wells will continue to pump out crude oil until the end of time; that there will always be more room for another landfill; that finite quantities will never run out.
I don’t know if this myopic optimism is deliberate ignorance fueled by greed and/or panic, or if it is just genuine stupidity. I do not understand how business leaders can look at something as basic as the current numbers for consumer confidence and unemployment, and not see what the long-term impact of outsourcing is going to be.
You cannot pursue policies that act to channel all of the wealth into the hands of 1% of the population, and then wonder why the people in your country aren’t buying anything, or why personal credit debt and bankruptcies are at an all-time high. You cannot have your knowledge workers and eat them too, President Lector.
That said, if anyone reading this is responsible for their company’s hiring decisions, and if your organization is looking for a Court Jester, I am available at rates that are much lower than your average domestic fool. Get your japery and gambols at rock-bottom international pricing today!
(Out)Source Code
Let’s cut to the chase here: outsourcing is the act of taking advantage of discrepancies in global currency values to get cheap labor, and nothing more. It isn’t about creating a global workforce, or about helping poorer nations, or about passing the savings down to the consumer. Outsourcing exists so that companies can get cheap labor pools to produce goods and services so that greater corporate profits can be realized. That is it; end of list.
While North American tech companies can obfuscate this issue with pie charts and economics mumbo-jumbo and pseudo-academic studies so slanted they make inclined planes green with envy, outsourcing exists today so that companies can make higher profits.
What’s wrong with making higher profits? Not a damned thing. The purpose of a business is to make profits. If you’re not in business to make a profit, then you are a charitable organization, or a humanitarian concern, or Air Canada.
But, CEO Simba, here is an example of how this particular circle of life is supposed to go:
* Businesses employ people to produce whatever it is that the business produces, be it a good, a service, or god forbid, good service.
* These employees take their paychecks and put money back into the economy by purchasing goods and services from other companies.
* Many of the companies that receive money from these employees will turn around and spend some of this money on goods and services from other companies, including (directly or indirectly) the business that employs the people who spent their money with the other companies—they also pay their employees, who go out and purchase goods and services from other companies.
* Re-read that last bullet point a few times, and if it makes sense, please send me an email and let me know what it is I just wrote.
(I would have supplied a pie chart with the above explanation, but the hour is late, and I don’t want anyone confusing this publication with USA Today.)
My point is that outsourcing, or off-shoring, or pan-geographical human capital re-allocating or whatever the hell the suits are calling it this week, cuts a link out of the chain of the economy, and businesses are just assuming that some magic fiduciary blacksmith will come along and mend it later. Corporations have somehow convinced themselves that a growing number of consumers will continue to buy their goods and services, even while these same companies are cutting domestic jobs and sending growing numbers of workers to the unemployment lines.
Repeat three times after me, boardroom swamis: workers are consumers. If people aren’t working, they won’t buy anything other than the basic necessities of life. Cutting your payrolls down to the bone in order to realize short-term profits is short-sighted, dense, and destructive. It is anti-business.
Now, I have had this conversation with a number of people before, so I know for a fact that someone out there is already wagging a finger at me and is getting ready to slap the race card hazard onto my Milles Bornes stack. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Yes, I am a white male, which means that in today’s current political climate my opinion possesses an untrustworthy quality not dissimilar to a J-Lo engagement announcement. But: the nationality of the people who are having jobs outsourced to them is irrelevant to the economic consequences. Honestly, on a planet of seven billion people, if you search hard enough, you will eventually find someone who is capable and willing to do the work you do, and for less money. That’s not the point.
The point is that outsourcing is a component of the same future-blind business mentality that says there will always be trees to cut down; that wells will continue to pump out crude oil until the end of time; that there will always be more room for another landfill; that finite quantities will never run out.
I don’t know if this myopic optimism is deliberate ignorance fueled by greed and/or panic, or if it is just genuine stupidity. I do not understand how business leaders can look at something as basic as the current numbers for consumer confidence and unemployment, and not see what the long-term impact of outsourcing is going to be.
You cannot pursue policies that act to channel all of the wealth into the hands of 1% of the population, and then wonder why the people in your country aren’t buying anything, or why personal credit debt and bankruptcies are at an all-time high. You cannot have your knowledge workers and eat them too, President Lector.
That said, if anyone reading this is responsible for their company’s hiring decisions, and if your organization is looking for a Court Jester, I am available at rates that are much lower than your average domestic fool. Get your japery and gambols at rock-bottom international pricing today!
