On Sat, 24 Mar 2001 Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> OK, so basically you approve of a pay cap for domestic workers based on
> global competition, because the domestic workers demand too much. This is
> very much the view that I expected of those of a libertarian economic
> philosophy, and who is to say you are wrong?
The cap is not as significant as you might imagine. I've got a
spreadsheet that details the overhead costs of employing offshore
workers. The cost savings are *not* as significant as one might
presume at first glance. (They do however justify the expenses
involved if you have a large enough project.)
> But all should be forced to compete in the global market. Why not bring in a
> million medical professionals to take care of us in the USA?
Because the 'reverse costs' are significant. Consider this --
in Russia currently, most people 'own' their apartments or Dachas.
In the U.S. that isn't typically true. Bring those people to the U.S.
and they suddenly have huge rents or mortgages to pay. Thus their
salary costs increase.
> What about Sweetheart deals could be set up between health insurance
> companies and pharmacy chains-halving costs?
Huh? Yes, you can cut the costs somewhat by becoming a partner
in distribution but most of the profit is going back to the manufacturer
(e.g. the big-Pharma-co) and they and the HIC are not looking at each
other with extreme fondness.
> This could apply to legal services also. I mean, why pay lawyers
> thousands of dollars when foreign attorneys could be much more
> inexpensive?
Because the functioning of the legal systems is completely different!
You don't employ a Russian lawyer to navigate the U.S. legal
system and you don't employ an U.S. lawyer to navigate the
Russian legal system. They are two entirely different species
and while the "background training" is similar the realities
of working in them are like night and day.
> Supposedly, 5.6 million new IT workers will be needed in the USA in the next
> 5 years. Gates and company may have a point, if true. If not....?
I suspect these numbers were generated by the study firms to
satisfy their contracts. (You don't think they hire study firms
to disprove the agendas of the people writing the checks do you???)
This is selective filtering of the "Horoscope Reality" -- You hear
about the times it comes true but you never hear about the times
the predictions are false. How many Human Resource Managers are
complaining to their congressmen about the fact that they have
too many resumes in their 'inbox'???
Robert
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 28 2001 - 09:59:43 MDT