Friday, March 12, 2004

Greenspan confusion - on purpose Posted here Friday, March 12, 2004 at 4:26:56 PM     Greenspan on the interplay between jobs and outsourcing Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Friday that efforts to stem the tide of overseas outsourcing could damage the U.S. economy instead of help protect American workers. Greenspan detailed his views on the politically charged topic at Boston College's Finance Conference 2004, where he was awarded an honorary degree by the school. Measures such as the U.S. Workers Protection Act might do more harm than good, he said. "In response to these strains and the dislocations (outsourcing could) cause, a new round of protectionist steps is being proposed," Greenspan said. "These alleged cures would make matters worse rather than better. They would do little to create jobs; and if foreigners were to retaliate, we would surely lose jobs." The problem is that when he says "hurts the US" he means capital owners, not the general welfare. The general welfare is likely to decline, and the distribution of its effects is the political issue being dodged here. ********

Outsourcing vs 911 Posted here Friday, March 12, 2004 at 3:44:18 PM     Trend, to downplay 911 an d see other issues that Bush distracted us from. This from Freidman So now I wonder: when they write the history of the world 20 years from now, and they cometo this chapter < Sept. 11, 2001, to March 2004 < what will they say was most important? The attack on the World Trade Center and the Iraq war? Or, as Mr. Rao suggests, the convergence of PC's, telecom and work-flow software into a tipping point that allowed India to become part of the global supply chain for services the way China had become for manufacturing < creating an explosion of wealth in the middle classes of the world's two biggest nations, India and China, and giving both nations a huge new stake in the success of globalization. I wonder? March 4, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004703/04/opinion/04FRIE.html ********