Bear Flag Republic Radio Weblog

< 6:36:29 PM        >

In a program to make government more cost effective, President Bush will announce today that about 20% of Congressional representatives and senators will find their jobs moved to offshore locations. According to the White House, a U.S. Senator has a base pay of $150,000 per year. An equivalent or better quality Senator can be hired in India for just $15,000 per year, providing a tremendous savings for the U.S. taxpayer. Also, because India is half a world away from the U.S. it is now possible to shift Congressional work around the world to follow the sun. In this way, work can be completed 24 hours per day. When U.S. staffers leave their D.C. offices, their lobbying and campaign work can shift to India for the overnight hours.

According to a new report by Forrester Research, up to one-third of the U.S. federal government jobs are likely to move offshore over the next five years. Another study by the Gartner Group forecasts that the federal government will offshore 10% of its jobs over the coming year. The White House believes it can cut the cost of government by 25% or more by outsourcing elected positions, their staff, and other government functions.

To many government politicians, the decision to outsource activities offshore is fiscally sound - the cost, quality, value and process advantages are well-proven," said Diane Morepesos, vice president and research director at Gartner. "At a time when government organizations are struggling with poor credibility and programs are being scrutinized, offshore outsourcing is becoming a tool for improving service delivery and a source of highly qualified talent in greater numbers."

Sen. Trent (R-Enron) said, upon losing his job, that "It is quite an upheaval." He's moving to Reno to work as a card dealer at a casino where he will earn just one fifth of his original salary. "Making ends meet is going to be tough, but this is all part of the capitalistic system that reallocates resources to their most productive use", he said, followed by a deep sigh, as he realized his most productive use will be dealing cards to tourists.

Sen. Richard (D-Greenpeace) has learned that his position will be outsourced to overseas. He says the "Process is extremely insulting. First they made me train my replacement, who came here on an H-1B visa, and then they gave him my job and shipped him back to India." He thinks voters will be upset with Bush come the next election.

Courtney Smith, an analyst at Forrester, says that the White House is very "hush hush" about this offshoring program, primarily because they fear the negative publicity, but otherwise believes that down the road, it will be best if we outsource the entire U.S. economy. According to Smith, the comparative advantage of the U.S. will be in managing corporate holding companies that primarily employ workers in other countries.

Rep. Charles Congit (D-AFL/CIO) lost his job but decided to join the fray. He[base ']s now a consultant working for the Gartner Group[base ']s Outsourcing program. He travels to India and China for about one week every month, seeking out new opportunities to outsource more elected positions throughout the U.S. "I see huge opportunities to outsource even more jobs!", he says.

Economist Michael Freeman, of Columbia University, says that while offshoring may be painful for those affected, it is good for the country because it will result in the re-allocation of workers to more productive work. He says that unemployed Congressman will just need to re-skill to climb further up the skills ladder. He envisions unemployed Congressman increasing their skill sets to add higher value political services. They may need to go back to school, he says.

Sen. Richard thinks "re-skilling" is a concept that only works in economics theory. Pointing to his Masters in political science and his Juris Doctor degree, he thinks the idea that he can easily replace 5 years of graduate education with a little re-skilling is absurd. Sen. Richard fears that he will be forced to accept work well beneath his capabilities, as the government outsources its political leadership. He is considering going in to political consulting, focusing on juntas and other organizational restructuring topics.

(This is satire. Many quotes have been taken, and slightly altered, from the originals that appeared in the various news stories on this topic, from below.) [Edward Mitchell: Common Sense Technology]

comments < 6:35:18 PM        >

"Longhorn, the next version of Microsoft Windows, will be so different from its predecessors that users may not like it right away, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates says.". And how is this different than current versions of Windows?

Ironically, that quote compares to this near simultaneous news story about Windows verus Mac OS X: "You might get a Mac if:
1. Style is important, and you want to 'like'' your computer." [Edward Mitchell: Common Sense Technology]

comments < 6:29:47 PM        >

How to name a product.

1. Make a list of adjectives that apply to the product, things you want to convey in the name. If you don't have such a list you'll never know how to judge the potential names you come up with.

2. Using a thesaurus look up some of the adjectives. Let your mind wander. It's important to play at this stage. Think of people who exemplify the traits listed in step 1. Think of places. Historical periods. Don't be linear. Call a friend and read off the list in step 1 and ask them to blurt out any words they think of. Make up words that convey the adjectives.

3. Now go into evaluative mode on the list from step 2. Cross off words that are descriptive. Those won't pass muster as trademarks. Keep proper names. Made-up words are especially good. At any point you can jump back to step 1 or 2, and add to your lists. (In fact if you don't I suspect your process isn't working very well.)

4. Look up the words from step 3 on a search engine. Cross off names that are products, formats, standards, or in any way are associated with your industry, no matter how remote. Save yourself grief later.

5. Pass the list from step 4 over to a trademark attorney to check them in the USPTO database.

[Scripting News]
comments < 6:28:19 PM        >

Mark Twain: "In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards." [Scripting News]
comments < 6:27:36 PM        >

Bert Bos: "'Design by committee' has a bad name (specs that are a patchwork of inconsistent solutions, often redundant, and thus too big and too hard to learn), but in reality it doesn't automatically produce bad results." [Scripting News]
comments < 6:27:05 PM        >