Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: B.REVERE who wrote (251586)	7/23/2003 7:48:28 AM
From: Oblomov	Respond to of 436258

The problem is that unions can "save jobs" only in the short run. The work moves overseas, whether or not the "job" does. Or job formation happens overseas, while the jobs that remain here become coveted sinecures that are no longer part of the labor market per se, like longshoreman positions. The only possible "revolution" is a consumer revolution. Consumers would have to make a conscious choice to favor small businesses over big, regardless of the additional cost. There would need to be the perception of utility in buying merchandise from a mom&pop grocery store instead of Walmart. Our culture pays lip service to the underdog, but in the end, we bought our burgers from McDonalds rather than the myriad of local burger chains that existed at the beginning of the 1960s. Anyway, the age of the lone programmer assembling the killer app in his basement has passed. What is becoming more valuable? Social skills. Communication skills. The ability to be deeply technical when necessary, and the simultaneous ability to explain the idea to a decision maker. This sort of job is not likely to be challenged by offshore competition anytime soon. The fact is, it's getting much harder to add value in a modern corporation, which is the way it should be.