- Mar 27, 2012
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Let me preface this by saying that I'm a fan of AOS, Ace himself and Buck. JJ Sefton is also very good but CBD (Charlie Brown's Dildo) can kiss my goat-smelling ass. He banned me for saying something he later came back and screamed from high heaven was gospel.
This is from his Blog and it's insightful, IMO.
ace.mu.nu
There's more but it wouldn't be right to clog up this site with it. Go read it. But do it soon. Ace stole his software from the East German Army right before they collapsed, so.....
Principled Free Traders* had a great run during the quarter century before Trump’s presidency. “Thought leaders” on both side of the political aisle agreed that exporting as many US manufacturing jobs as possible to developing countries was a desirable thing, as they sneered “learn to code” at the deplorable blue-collar workers who lost their livelihoods to offshoring.
(*Just a reminder regarding my animus toward “Principled Free Traders” - I am not necessarily opposed to genuine, reciprocal free trade, but it angers me when people advocating for unilateral surrender to foreign mercantilism falsely promote themselves as being highly principled “free traders,” especially when the foreign mercantilists are hostile countries that have abominable labor policies and are generally closed to US exports.)
Then Trump and his tariffs came along. So did Covid, and supply chain interruptions, and shipping backlogs, and port breakdowns, etc. The higher cost of US labor started looking a lot better compared to the cost of not receiving products that are stuck in a foreign port.
Meanwhile, the work-from-home era started during the Covid hysteria, and employers are still struggling to get employees back to the office. For better or worse, employers are realizing that if a job can be done at a kitchen table in suburban America, it can also probably be done in Bangalore or Moldova, but for much less. And unlike manufactured products that must be slowly shipped across the globe, the product the laptop class creates is digital, and can be shipped around the world in the blink of an eye.
This Google story broke last week, and although the number of Google employees losing their jobs is not huge, it had a significant impact because it really makes explicit that tech jobs are now being offshored, and that U.S. employers are dismissing white collar workers for the express purpose of replacing them with cheaper employees in places like India and Mexico. Learning to code won’t help the laid off employees. Maybe they need to learn to weld.
“Google lays off 200 workers, shifts jobs to Mexico and India in latest restructuring” [NY Post – 05/01/2024]
“A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs; From major layoffs at Tesla, Amazon and Microsoft to small fintech startups and apps” [TechCrunch – 5/03/2024]
But at the same time, while coding can be offshored and spreadsheets can be produced and sent from anywhere, there’s a growing appreciation for the value in locally manufactured products, which don’t have to sail through chokepoints which have a habit recently of getting choked off.
This is from his Blog and it's insightful, IMO.
Ace of Spades HQ
There's more but it wouldn't be right to clog up this site with it. Go read it. But do it soon. Ace stole his software from the East German Army right before they collapsed, so.....
THE MORNING RANT: Learn to Weld? What if Manufacturing Jobs Come Home but White Collar Jobs Get Offshored?
—Buck Throckmorton
Principled Free Traders* had a great run during the quarter century before Trump’s presidency. “Thought leaders” on both side of the political aisle agreed that exporting as many US manufacturing jobs as possible to developing countries was a desirable thing, as they sneered “learn to code” at the deplorable blue-collar workers who lost their livelihoods to offshoring.
(*Just a reminder regarding my animus toward “Principled Free Traders” - I am not necessarily opposed to genuine, reciprocal free trade, but it angers me when people advocating for unilateral surrender to foreign mercantilism falsely promote themselves as being highly principled “free traders,” especially when the foreign mercantilists are hostile countries that have abominable labor policies and are generally closed to US exports.)
Then Trump and his tariffs came along. So did Covid, and supply chain interruptions, and shipping backlogs, and port breakdowns, etc. The higher cost of US labor started looking a lot better compared to the cost of not receiving products that are stuck in a foreign port.
Meanwhile, the work-from-home era started during the Covid hysteria, and employers are still struggling to get employees back to the office. For better or worse, employers are realizing that if a job can be done at a kitchen table in suburban America, it can also probably be done in Bangalore or Moldova, but for much less. And unlike manufactured products that must be slowly shipped across the globe, the product the laptop class creates is digital, and can be shipped around the world in the blink of an eye.
This Google story broke last week, and although the number of Google employees losing their jobs is not huge, it had a significant impact because it really makes explicit that tech jobs are now being offshored, and that U.S. employers are dismissing white collar workers for the express purpose of replacing them with cheaper employees in places like India and Mexico. Learning to code won’t help the laid off employees. Maybe they need to learn to weld.
“Google lays off 200 workers, shifts jobs to Mexico and India in latest restructuring” [NY Post – 05/01/2024]
In just the first few months of 2024, about 60,000 employees have been laid off by tech companies.
“A comprehensive list of 2024 tech layoffs; From major layoffs at Tesla, Amazon and Microsoft to small fintech startups and apps” [TechCrunch – 5/03/2024]
As Don Johnson notes, it was foolish for white collar workers to think their jobs couldn’t be offshored too.
But at the same time, while coding can be offshored and spreadsheets can be produced and sent from anywhere, there’s a growing appreciation for the value in locally manufactured products, which don’t have to sail through chokepoints which have a habit recently of getting choked off.
