Replies to post #134555 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Babylon]

Great post TG.

Do you see any sector as being a good LT investment within the US, in the current environment? TIA.

[inthehills]

<what they had failed to notice is that the tele-a-commute would be from continents away>.

Not so sure about the above statement. Once the internet was built out some years ago it was apparent that the same data could be displayed on a screen anywhere there was a tap into www.

What was not envisioned is US companies being willing or even eager to eliminate millions of jobs in this country. Many of these IT high salary positions being lost cause the loss of multiple other jobs when that income is removed from our economy. These companies may well improve profits for a few quarters but when full impact of these moves hit our economy there is going to be hell to pay IMO.

[Bearmove]

Yes, very sad. So many baby boomers are now walking into this new reality. Me included. I know for a fact that employers are discriminated against older skilled candidates. I've advised older job seekers to not sent out resumes. Direct initial contact with the key hiring individual often produces surprising results compared with the resume drama. The key purpose of the resume is to get the 1st interview. I'm saying skip that process and get the buyer on the phone.They change the rules so we need to find back doors. Believe me, the hiring offical will talk to you. Did you apply for a position with Sunw?

[George the Greek]

Train Guy, You might be able to substitute the word Motorola in that scenario. Might also be amusing if it wasn't so sad.

[PennyStockholder]

Substitute Nortel Networks (and others). For years Nortel has been outsourcing its software to India and hiring H1 workers from India (and other countries). Now, with the downturn a couple of years ago, Nortel fired 2/3 of its staff (90,000+ --> 30,000-), and increased by thousands the number of positions filled by Indian contractors. It has also left millions of square feet of office space available for others. This trend will only get worse (for Americans).

But, we should not be so surprised, as automakers, shoemakers, electronics manufacturers, etc., have been shipping jobs overseas for decades. Its just the telecommunication industry's turn. The Indians are hungry for work, and bid the price down. Even without shipping jobs overseas, the aftermath of the dot-com bust is the emergence of a new age.

One might say the Information Age has come and gone. Just as we still have vestages of the Industrial Age, we have ongoing benefits of the Information Age. It has left us with a mature industry that has given us, for example, wireless phones for the same price as our wireline phones. Wireline phone companies are competing directly against the wireless phone companies for our business (witness the heartofore-unheardof offers for unlimited flat-rate local and long distance service). But, hey, I can buy a brand-new computer for under $800, that runs twice as fast and has twice the hard-drive space as a computer that only a couple of years ago would cost $2000.

This is the age of "Do more with less". In telecommunications, the (not-so-distant) future holds total voice over IP, putting all the huge telephone switches on the junk pile. It holds wireless data hubs in every neighborhood, putting all the cable and DSL POPs out to pasture. These are examples of "do more with less". This trend will affect jobs just as much as outsourcing.

Yes, age does play a part. This will hurt even more as the Boomers (of which I am one) mature. But, it is just the way jobs are flowing. As a consequence of this new trend, we may have to "do more with less" in our personal lives, too.

Wouldn't it be great if suddenly there was a market for energy efficient appliances and homes, and clean energy generation? There's an industry we could start here in America, benefit from its growth, and then ship the jobs overseas.

I hope the suit against Sun, if it is discriminatory, is successful. It won't stem the tide of jobs, but it will make it a bit more expensive for the companies that are not mindful of the negative impact of cutting corners.