This thread is in regard to an interview I watched last night, featuring the author Thomas Friedman. He was speaking at a University to the old and
young alike, about a book he wrote titled “The World is Flat.” Now before anyone asks, I have not read the book. If anyone would like to read
the synopsis that I read after watching the interview, here is the link,
www.wikisummaries.org...
For those of you who would not like to read the synopsis, the book is basically about the cause and effects of globalization worldwide and locally in
America.
One key argument I have with Friedman, is with this statement,
. For the first time in history, we see that talent has become more important than geography in determining a person’s opportunity in life
This is an outright lie.
He himself offers this statistic,
For example, in India only 2% of the entire population are involved in the high-tech and manufacturing for export sectors
That's only 24 Million people and jobs!!
The high-tech industry might require a level of training, but, I would argue, not talent. Also, the manufacturing industry definitely does not
require talent, I have worked in factories before, and usually they have the bottom of the barrel. (not saying you are the bottom of the barrel if
you work in a factory, just that you could be and still have your job) I know that some of the outsourcing has been in talent based jobs, like
accountants, doctors, scientist etc. but the vast majority, are manufacturing jobs in India and china, and other countries.
The jobs have been moved away from America, not to find the talent, but to find people who will work for substantially less money.
This is understandable, I myself would rather pay someone 10 cents an hour than 10 dollars an hour, however, is this ethical? I would also rather
have a mansion and 1,500 acres of land, but is that ethical? So the rich found a way the screw everyone, and profit many times more than they were
before. Is that ethical?
I think this is a concerted effort to drain American citizens of their livelihood and opportunity, while at the same time exploiting people in 2nd and
3rd world countries. Does anyone think that this is all for the greater good, and that America/Americans will eventually bounce back and innovate? Or
that those in the 2nd/3rd world deserve to be exploited or that these jobs are actually improving their way of life?
Agree/Disagree? I would like to hear everyone’s thoughts on the matter.