February 09, 2004
From the desk of Jane Galt:When self interest isn't in the public interest
Back when I worked in the technology industry, the overwhelming majority of my coworkers were free traders. They had all the standard arguments down to a well-rehearsed patter: factory workers had no "right" to a high paying job, it was best for everyone in the long run, creative destruction was the engine of economic growth, and so on.
Then came outsourcing.
Suddenly, those same people who had been rabid free-trade advocates were outraged. Sure, trade is good, but this is entirely different. America wasn't outsourcing some lame-o metalpressing jobs. It was outsourcing highly paid, highly skilled programming work. How the hell could they compete with a guy in India making $5 an hour? And their jobs weren't like regular jobs; they were much more important. If America outsourced programming jobs, it was patently obvious that soon we'd have no jobs left and the whole country would be reduced to returning beverage cans for the $0.05 deposit in order to scrape up enough money to buy a Happy Meal.
Now I'm a journalist. Journalists, like my previous colleagues in technology, are far more pro-trade than your average American, particularly in the policy/finance/business circuits clustered in New York and Washington. This is because, it has been speculated, journalists don't have to worry about their job getting outsourced to India.
Until now, anyway. Daniel Drezner reports that Reuters is planning to do just that. My colleagues, and myself, will now have the opportunity to prove their free trade bona fides by standing foursquare behind this decision.
Oh, hear that hollow laugh.
Well, as a committed free trader, I know that the only thing we can do when faced with competition from abroad is to improve our competitive advantage. I could try to improve my productivity, but that takes work. So instead I need to improve my fame. Y'all need to start emailing every one of your friends and letting them know about this blog. Pigeonhole your boss. Worry your doctor. Write fawning letters to your local paper, demanding that I be given a column.
Remember, you're not doing it for me. You're doing it for free trade, and America.
Posted by Jane Galt at February 9, 2004 06:46 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksThe day is not far off, now, when it will be easier to divorce a spouse than it is to dismiss an employee. If our progressive religious leaders really want to show that they're moving with the times they should look at the idea of making hiring into a sacrament.
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek on February 10, 2004 08:44 PMThere's possibly-related news about one of yesterday's protectionists. (Seen via Fark.)
Posted by: Joseph Hertzlinger on February 10, 2004 09:00 PMJane,
Surely Amity Schlaes of the FT should be in your sights to replace?
Posted by: Tom on February 11, 2004 02:54 PMWhat I'm worried about is the millions who have no entrepreneurial skills and who will be negatively impacted by outsourcing and insourcing.
What? How would losing my job not be negative? I don't have entrepreneurial skills, I just know that the free market doesn't care about me and I must take the responsibility for myself. I spent time eating half packs of Ramen noodles for lunch so that I could have something for dinner. I've been there.
My father has lost many jobs. And he always finds others. He's not the most educated man, but he works hard and gets decent paying jobs. He's taken jobs he doesn't like for the interim and moved on when opportunities arose. My mother has done the same.
However, there is something you can do about it. Don't buy anything made in China. Don't purchase products that were developed using outsourcing. If you truly care enough about your fellow Americans, then you will sacrifice cheap shoes and Levi's so that you can send a message to the companies that move work overseas.
Somehow, I don't think people care that much though.
We Americans can easily stemm the flow of outsourcing of jobs to other countries, without giving up free trade.
It's called lower wages, licensing fees, and deregulating.
But the same people who cry about outsourcing refuse to do that. They keep the production costs of American goods and services higher, so what do they expect buisnesses to do? Suck it up and lose out to overseas companies that don't have the same restrictions?
Posted by: Nick M. on February 14, 2004 04:57 PMComments are Closed.