[Ed Hubbard]

The other big issue at work here is the simple differences in living standards. In countries like India and China they are very low, but as they become more weathy guess what they start to look like - America!

We have about 15 engineers in India and we vist there often. On the last visit (I wasn't there but our VP of Eng was) our guys took a tour of an outsorcing shop that was all setup for a whole floor of engineers but it was empty. When our VP asked how soon he thought they would fill up the floor, the CEO of this outsourcing firm told him that it *had* been full two weeks ago but the *whole* floor (a single large development team) had been hired away for more money by Accenture!

What's happening is that we (the US, UK, Japan and the other G7/8's) are going to suffer while we pull the rest of the poor but ready to be first world countries (India, China, some of the old USSR states, SA, etc.) up to something close to our standard of living. I think our standard of living in the US will suffer the most since we're the richest, but eventually we'll all reach a steady state where everyone starts to accelerate together.

I've thought about this *a lot* given our use of outsourcing, but there's simply no way around this unless our Gov. finds a way to change the rules. Capitalisim doesn't care where / what is making it the most efficient, it just goes there whether you like it or not.

To end this on a positive note, keep in mind that most of these companies are American companies. Most of the management of these companies remains American. And only in America could this sort of Capitalisim thrive. In all these other countries the culture couldn't survive this sort of all out Capitalisim. If you roll the clock forward some period of time, basically the whole world ends up working for us & we're managing them.

So, which would you rather end up as - the owner / operators of the world's great companies or the people that work for them? Something to think about & of course, just my .02!