Tom Peters: Comments on Outsourcing

Short version:
Geography is now meaningless.
All first-world jobs are up for grabs by anyone in the world.
All government can do is create local environments conducive to growth.
The notion that God intended Americans to be permanently wealthier than the rest of the world, that gets less and less likely as time goes on. (Robert Solow, Nobel Laureate, Economics)

[Globalization brings] the true equalization of opportunity based upon merit [and] will reduce the unearned advantage in living standards that has been enjoyed by residents of advanced industrial societies throughout the 20th century. (Governor, Bank of England)
1. Off-shoring can't be stopped.
2. Service jobs are a bigger issue than mfg.
3. US wage advantage...bye bye

4. Free trade makes world safer and it hurts when you lose your job but tough luck.

Individuals, themselves, must make sure they have useful global skills to protect them from labor market upheavals.

Worker benefits should be portable to aid labor mobility.
(eg. health care, re-training credits, pensions)

5. Big companies dont create jobs. And they're not built to last.

Job creation is led by a small fraction of start-ups that become growth companies (Microsoft, Amgen, FedEx). So entrepreneurial incentives are a top priority (low capital-gains taxes and high R&D supports).

6. Education must stress creativity and innovation -- the mainstays of high-value added products and services.

Children should be nurtured on risk-taking, with a low expectation of corporate cosseting.

Research universities need strong support.

7. Protection of intellectual capital is imperative.

8. Broadband everywhere is a National Priority equal to the War on Terror.

9. Economic progression is a driven by technological advance (eg farm to factory to R&D lab.) Technology change is so vigorous for the foreseeable future that those who seize the moment have lots of opportunity.

Find more here via Gautam Ghosh

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