Luddites also didn't know where their jobs would come from as the Industrial Revolution began. That's why they smashed the machines.
Asking where the jobs will come from is the wrong question. The right question is asking what benefits are had by creating lower cost structures and improving productivity.
Improved productivity means improved buying power. It also means there can be a reallocation of human capital to areas where it is more profitable or urgently needed. Just because we don't "see" these areas doesn't mean they don't exist.
One last point about the movement of jobs overseas is pretty simple - the country with the highest level of non-national ownership and out of country productivity is....Canada! Not such a bad place to live. Sure, some of their benefits come from being one of the US's major trade partners and next door neighbor, but they are the poster child for not worrying about the shipment of jobs over borders.
The issue of "worry" upon reading things like this are, like Michael Moore's typical harangue, about short term displacement. As much as I enjoyed the humor in "Roger and Me", the overall economic commentary has proven to be wrong. At the point in time which that was made, the US began to launch into one of the longest growth periods in history.
As I am fond of saying to my wife, you can always find reasons to not do or not like something. Finding the reasons to do them or like them is usually much tougher. And, as Colin Powell says, Optimism is a force multiplier. Negativity is a virus that can be caught.
That isn't to say "woo-hoo, good times are ahead, no need to worry", but there are certain economic truths that have to be considered in every outlook.
I am, of course, short right now. It's been an incredibly painful experience, but I still think a final mild market correction is due before the economy is fully righted. |
