Re: someone noticed 90 percent indians posting on asktom.oracle.com

On 11 Aug 2003 20:06:04 -0700, Nuno Souto <wizofoz2k_at_yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
> He was talking goods manufacturing. Services is not exactly
> the same thing...
>

Actually, he was talking about the provision of anything, anywhere, anytime. Tangible or intangible, the law of comparative advantage still holds sway.
>

> exactly. Now, what precisely was that comparative advantage for a 20
> year old kid starting in IT now? Or do you sincerely think yours and my
> generation are the only ones that will need work in IT
> services? See, you don't have kids, I do. These things worry parents,
> silly little retards we all are...

Depends what you mean by 'starting IT', doesn't it? I mean, if the Uni's churn out yet more tired old DBAs or MCSEs or their equivalents, then those 20 year olds are going to be in deep doo-doo.

But how about some research on quantum computing? Or on intelligently applying common tools to uncommon problems? Yadda yadda... the whole point of comparative advantage is that you can find some somewhere... but you have to be prepared to look. And change. And change isn't ever comfortable. So people tend to run away from change, and seek refuge in protectionism or, as in this thread, racism.

>
>
>> One would have thought that the lesson would have been learnt by now,
>> given that such shifts have happened many times in the manufacturing
>> industry (Manchester still producing cotton goods these days? Norton
>> bikes are the market leader? Where did your last RAM chip get made?)
>> over the past 200 years. Service industries are not immune, and why
>> should they be?
>
> Well, what I'd like to see is ALL service industries being subjected to
> the same scrutiny. Why on earth does IT have to be singled out for this
> treatment when there are a zillion others
> equally as inefficient and open to the same approach?
>
> I'm thinking here accounting, administration, MIS, sales, insurance, help
> desk, secretarial, etc etc. Heck, with a bit of creativity we can even
> find a way to outsource McDonnalds to Botswanna. Then we can all relax
> and enjoy our middle class living
> while someone else does the real work.
>
> Oh, hang on: without jobs there is no middle class, no major source of
> income for taxation, no major consumerism, no shopping
> centres, no profit, no society in general. Produce anything real cheap
> anywhere you want: without a consumer to buy it, it's worth nothing.
> Bummer.

'Sfunny, you know. But I think the 'invisible hand of the market' might have worked that one out already.

>
> What was the problem again we're discussing?
> Sometimes, what looks like an easy solution is just the start of
> tomorrow's nightmare...
>
>> But you don't react to it by getting racist, just by getting smarter.
>> Web deployment, anyone?
>
> You can't feed the cat surfing websites. But you are right. Either we
> get another Marx, or we all
> re-deploy as Pizza Hut cooks. Let's just hope there are
> enough people left with an income large enough to buy a pizza...
>
> There is a limit to how far profitability can be taken. Once it
> starts shooting itself on the foot, it must be stopped.

Another funny thing about the market: it will tend to stop itself. Oh, it might need a nudge here and there: it has no social conscience after all. But there's a nasty tinge to this thread that needs nipping in the bud, if at all possible.

When I think back to the 70s in the UK, and remember how every man and his dig was out on strike every other week, and in considerable measure because the unions were fighting lay-offs in such high tech industries as steel and coal, I can only laugh at this sort of stuff. IT was once seen as the threat to the comfortable existence of millions of ordinary people's comfortable lives, because computers could do it quicker, cheaper and faster. Now it's the IT industry itself that's moaning about others being able to do it quicker and cheaper. And maybe better -perish the thought. But just as there aren't herds of wild welshmen still roaming the hills looking for a coal mine to go down (they got re-trained and looked elsewhere for work) so I doubt that we've too much to worry about, so long as we don't get complacent.

Regards HJR Received on Tue Aug 12 2003 - 01:18:34 CDT