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Technology Stocks : Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Night Writer who wrote (2887)	6/2/2003 12:07:29 PM
From: MeDroogies	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4345

I don't disagree about the movement of jobs. That's probably going to happen. It always happens. The strength of any economy is based on the relative mobility of employment and capital. Which is precisely why I disagree with the concept that the movement of these jobs is a negative for the US. Our employment and capital structure is the most mobile and flexible. Short term, there are some negative shifts that will occur. Long term, it will benefit us as we focus on stronger, more competitive, industries. The difficulty of IT being REALLY cheaper abroad is based on a few factors - the top one being education. Some countries, like India, have a very well educated but low wage base. However, the issue of cultural management (and the inherent costs of that) becomes an expense. How often have you explained something to somebody here and had it come back totally different from what you wanted? Now apply an order of magnitude to that. Still, if the wages are low enough, this can be overcome. Or...if wages there rise enough, the exportation will slow or stop. I would think this second scenario will play out over time. The US has faced the exportation of its industries before, and always survived and eventually thrived. Autos are a perfect example. Japan broke the market substantially in the 70's and grew in the 80's. The size of their growth forced a reworking of their methodology. They couldn't produce the number of cars needed, and ship them in a cost efficient manner, so were forced to build factories here. Some would argue import regulations assisted this process, but the fact is they were going to be forced to do it anyway. At any rate, while the auto industry suffered for a period of time, it eventually rebounded. Steel went through a similar experience as mini-mills took hold in Europe and drove down the price of steel. Nucor changed that equation in the favor of the US, eventually. Markets fluctuate...as JP Morgan once said. Playing the fluctuations is the fun part. It is also distressing for many people.