Outsourcing: pleasure or pain?

it is a very contentious issue, yes...

there is a big kerfuffle in the west amongst right wing (unbalanced as they don't have a left wing) trade unionists, mealy mouthed politicians, ideological whores and such about the shunting off of their work to sweatshops infested by hunched over, faceless, verminesque human automatons who ought to rot in the shadows of their despicable fate and should instead look much more fashionable crawling on their bellies, importuning before trucks laden with free aid to be exchanged for their continuing servitude. At least that makes for good photos in Time magazine, evoking unrestrained pity and the opportunity for the readers to feel human by helping the poor, poor wretches. And for photographer of the year awards for those who have managed to capture human misery in a subdued and hauntingly evocative pose.

So what solution do these indignant patriots propose? Are they willing to accept lower pay to help their industries stay competitive in a globalized free market. No, they would say. Why should we have to lower our standards of living by forsaking our luxuries and entitlements that our money buys? Of course, it is fair isn't it?

So did they seriously think that globalization was a one way street? That the free trade agreements would allow them to push their surplus produce to the unsuspecting ignoramuses in the untapped populous markets but they wouldn't have to contend with the tide of cheap and quality products surging back towards their shores and come down like acid rain on them?

How could they allow children as young as 6 or 7 work in smoky, hypoxic environs? They fume. Indignation is the privilege of the rich indeed. The indigent can't afford to be indignant. So, what be the solution? Indignation offers no solutions, it only creates pity for the wretched and more free aid.

The US has now even outsourced torture to Egypt and Turkey. Why aren't we hearing the same indignation from their patriots now? Wouldn't it hurt their torture experts who have lost out on a hugely satisfying and lucrative career to some unprofessional and savage bedouin?

I can hear their politicians rising to their feet, hissing through clenched teeth in barely repressed indignation, "How dare the government sell out American jobs to this rabble? Americans have a long and proud history of torturing the blacks, the Red Indians and the communists with effortless ease at no great cost and at no great discomfort to our conscience, thanks to our reptilian politicans, for yonks. Where will this outrage stop? Next thing we know, they will be outsourcing even our thinking to dial-for-a-thought call centres in India. My head is hurting at even the thought of such a prospect".

Hold that head senator and stay away from Dick Cheney. Otherwise when Dick sees a head, he will shoot his load right at your head and you won't be able to do any thinking. And you will be out sore seeing.

The Psalm of Abu Ghraib, Babylonia

Oh Thank God for the civilised folk of America who have sent forth their noble warriors to civilise the brutes in the deserts of Babylonia. Preserve and propagate the mighty ideals of this nation under God, O cavemen of the world, where kids have the absolute freedom to kill their classmates on differences of opinion, where couples freely swap partners for society’s greater good and where money flows freely like unbridled lust.

Flinch not if you or your brethren are disciplined and lovingly stripped, chided and neutralised by their noble soldiers of peace for it is the mission of the modern messiahs Bush, Dick, Donald and Wolfowitz to carry out the work that their God whispered in their ears on 911.

For God said unto them, "this earth is your playground, as it is mine. Create more noble souls in your own likeness and smite those who are different. Fear not the dissenting crows, ignore them and they shall die in the fullness of time while your noble deeds create a new heaven on earth for ever and anon".

Now come on people, sing with me:

I welcome thee, my yankee, come in my country and give me liberty.
Oh gentle and loving soldier, Oh harbinger of liberty.
Come and trample, abuse and eviscerate me.
make me into your likeness, in return for our oil which I offer to ye.
With folded hands I welcome thee, my yankee.

Amen.

An attempted explanation of the growth of Indian and Chinese economies

I don't think that we need to envelope the reality in some form of theory or bind it to some equation to make it progress our understanding when it comes to explaining the befuddling contemporaneous supernova like expansion of Indian and Chinese economies.

Circumstances have presented India and China with ripe conditions that have combined with readily available inputs in these countries to produce certain synergistic effects, for both these countries as well as other economies.

What seems to be happening is the application of the concept of core competencies actuated by the downward pressure on prices and increased competition brought about by loosening of trade barriers, particularly in the western economies. It is something similar to the tectonic shift brought about in the US car industry by the smaller, cheaper, better engineered and more fuel efficient cars produced by the Japanese.

Western countries are experiencing negative population growth rates or population growth which is more or less levelling out. As a consequence, labour market in these countries is suffering from the gaping yawn in supply and demand which has pushed labour rates up. This dynamic combined with cheaper and better quality products flooding into their markets, thanks to globalization, from poorer and more populous economies resulted in offshoring certain stages of production to locations where they could be done cheaply and efficiently.

This has seen China become the manufacturing hub for the world and India become the darling of BPO and IT cost cutting evangelists in the west. China doesn't have the advantage of a large english speaking workforce as India and has by natural selection come to don the mantle of the behemoth of manufacturing which by its nature is a back room, customer contact deprived phase of production.

India by its long and negative symbiotic association with the British has a very sophisticated english speaking workforce compared to China and has become the natural choice for the offshored customer contact rich stages of production wherein it has now built a critical mass of experience and expertise.

Western economies are facing the unpalatable dilemma of choosing between either letting more and more immigrants from poorer countries to plug the divide between their supply and demand of labor or to jettison cost intensive functions to places where they can be done cheaper.
Political and self preservation motives of the original inhabitants of these countries have seen these economies walk the tight rope trying to balance their ethnic mix and assuage the fears of its natives of being overrun on one side with the economic imperative of staying competitive in a globalized market without boundaries on the other side.

Needless to say that India and China have emerged as beneficiaries in this circus even though their growth is fuelled by feeding off the scraps that have been thrown to them by the
hemmed in western economies.

However this growth will not last for long as other hungry and developing countries snap at the heels of India and China helped as they are by uncertain and fortuitous advantages of language and population. These countries need to build centers of excellence in research and innovation to keep the mad dogs of economic opportunism at bay.