NYCPHP Meetup

[Faber Fedor]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2004 at 11:23:55AM -0400, Stephen Musgrave wrote:
> 
> > outsourcing was being used to drop salary requirements for techs; move
> > work offshore, lay off people, salaries drop, then bring the work back on
> > shore hire the techies at much lower prices.
> 
> this is begging the question:  when does an economic system undermine the
> needs of the the society it is designed to serve?  (it's a loaded question,
> too.)

I guess the first thing you would need to do is define "society".
Is it just the US or the world or some subset thereof?

> capitalism has historically served as a mechanism for increased
> opportunities.  

by allowing the individual entity to work towards their own selfish
ends.

> i'm starting to wonder how the current state of neo-liberal
> economic policies are serving me, 

See? :-)

> my nation and the world at large.  so long
> as labor practices are fair in these off-shore locations, the gain remains
> static (or even greater) in the aggregate world view, but that doesn't help
> the local needs.

Keep in mind that the aggregate view and the local view are fractal;
we're discussing world v nation, but it also applies to nation v state
and regions v municiplaities, etc.

> (btw, this is what is so cool about the free software movement -- it is
> based on the bounty of communal cooperation and not the scarcity of
> individualist hording.)

True, but the selfishisness (in FOSS term the "itch to scratch") is
still paramount, IMO.

-- 
 
Regards,
 
Faber                     

Linux New Jersey: Open Source Solutions for New Jersey
http://www.linuxnj.com