CBS’ Business Report
On one segment of CBS’ Business Report, reporters were interviewing café patrons in Silicon Valley about the scarcity of technical jobs. The report stated that our counterparts in India, where thousands of American jobs are being relocated, are working for 75% less than their American counterparts. To put that in human terms, when I was in that industry, a Level I technical support position was paying $25 per hour. My Indian counterpart is doing this job for $5 an hour, less than minimum wage. This has nothing to do with the education levels of the American people, and everything to do with corporate greed. Despite this, these companies have not reduced their prices; the difference is pure profit for the corporations and their stockholders.
The episode ended with a restaurant patron quoting an executive of an unnamed company saying that the buggy whip makers were bemoaning the decline in the buggy whip market as the automobile came into existence. The argument does not follow. Computers have not significantly changed enough in the past four years to make that analogy. This is not about an obsolete technology being replaced with a new technology; it is about blatant corporate greed.
A Trip North
I took a trip to Milwaukee some time ago. I arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s Remote North Parking Lot at 5:00 am. The sign on the wall told me that the first shuttle to the terminals left at 5:30, and that after 11:00 am, I would have to dial a particular number; they provided a phone. As I neared the sign, I saw three suited executives eying it closely, each with the same blank expression. One of them murmured, "When do the shuttles run?" I checked the overhead screen for departures, and then checked the map on the wall to find my terminal. Finally, I picked up the phone and told the shuttle dispatcher that there were four people for pick up at Remote North. I had never been there before; I simply followed the very straightforward directions provided. It seemed to have been too much for my corporate colleagues. Before we left, one of the best and brightest of Corporate America had to ask me what terminal he needed. The other two men were repair technicians from one of the big database firms on their way to their respective projects. These men who could not read the map, and could not use the phone, are the men that your nation has deemed employable and preferred. They are the people leading us into the 21st century.
Precursor of Occupy
Between the corporate greed of the tech companies and the sheep that require the assistance of one of corporate America's rejects to simply navigate the airport, I have genuine trepidation about the future. I fear we will soon have civil unrest. Legend has it French queen Marie Antoinette was told that the peasants did not have enough money to buy bread. She pondered this for a minute, and brightly replied, "Then let them eat cake." Such was the incompetence that set off the French Revolution. I see a similar attitude arising between America’s have and have-nots.
On one segment of CBS’ Business Report, reporters were interviewing café patrons in Silicon Valley about the scarcity of technical jobs. The report stated that our counterparts in India, where thousands of American jobs are being relocated, are working for 75% less than their American counterparts. To put that in human terms, when I was in that industry, a Level I technical support position was paying $25 per hour. My Indian counterpart is doing this job for $5 an hour, less than minimum wage. This has nothing to do with the education levels of the American people, and everything to do with corporate greed. Despite this, these companies have not reduced their prices; the difference is pure profit for the corporations and their stockholders.
The episode ended with a restaurant patron quoting an executive of an unnamed company saying that the buggy whip makers were bemoaning the decline in the buggy whip market as the automobile came into existence. The argument does not follow. Computers have not significantly changed enough in the past four years to make that analogy. This is not about an obsolete technology being replaced with a new technology; it is about blatant corporate greed.
A Trip North
I took a trip to Milwaukee some time ago. I arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport’s Remote North Parking Lot at 5:00 am. The sign on the wall told me that the first shuttle to the terminals left at 5:30, and that after 11:00 am, I would have to dial a particular number; they provided a phone. As I neared the sign, I saw three suited executives eying it closely, each with the same blank expression. One of them murmured, "When do the shuttles run?" I checked the overhead screen for departures, and then checked the map on the wall to find my terminal. Finally, I picked up the phone and told the shuttle dispatcher that there were four people for pick up at Remote North. I had never been there before; I simply followed the very straightforward directions provided. It seemed to have been too much for my corporate colleagues. Before we left, one of the best and brightest of Corporate America had to ask me what terminal he needed. The other two men were repair technicians from one of the big database firms on their way to their respective projects. These men who could not read the map, and could not use the phone, are the men that your nation has deemed employable and preferred. They are the people leading us into the 21st century.
Precursor of Occupy
Between the corporate greed of the tech companies and the sheep that require the assistance of one of corporate America's rejects to simply navigate the airport, I have genuine trepidation about the future. I fear we will soon have civil unrest. Legend has it French queen Marie Antoinette was told that the peasants did not have enough money to buy bread. She pondered this for a minute, and brightly replied, "Then let them eat cake." Such was the incompetence that set off the French Revolution. I see a similar attitude arising between America’s have and have-nots.
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