Comments on: US Job Hunters Look Overseas

By: cewing

cewing — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:04:39 +0000

If you think that an executive moving overseas to work is a years-long vacation, you’re wrong.

I used to work for the international relocation department in an accounting firm, and let me tell you, even if you’re young, single, and free, living and working overseas is a hassle. Everything from getting the right work permits to making sure your taxes get paid in BOTH countries, to adjusting to language barriers and new cultural norms. Even in Western European countries they do things differently than in the US.

And don’t forget, amidst all the new cultural exploration, you will be expected to work long hours in the same kinds of cubicles and conference rooms you find here.

More than a few employees who we sent overseas came back early for the simple reason they got homesick.

By: wunsacon

wunsacon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:40:31 +0000

MEH, regarding the Left/Right “charade”, there are some significant differences.
- Lefties started fewer optional wars in the past 40 years. Righties see a commie, a terrorist, and a witch behind every 3rd-world slum and don’t consider closely enough the number of innocent people they kill.
- Lefties want government out of our personal lives. Righties would turn the US into a Christian Iran.
- Lefties want to preserve the environment for future generations. Righties scoff at Lefties over this issue.
- Lefties give away more money to the Poor than the Right, who give away more money to the Rich.

Yeah, voting for Lefties won’t end regulatory capture. But, there’s just no way I can vote for a Righty.

By: wunsacon

wunsacon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:20:56 +0000

MEH, okay, I understand. (I’m not sure willid3 was saying otherwise. I suspect you’re both talking past each other and not really in disagreement.)

Speaking of which, Harper’s came in the mail and — tada! — the opening article is about regulatory capture. :-)

By: wunsacon

wunsacon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:09:19 +0000

Barry, it’s somewhat pitiful. Yes. But, several years ago, you said you chose to develop Fusion with offshore resources. (Otherwise, I would’ve sent you my resume.) Everyone’s been doing that and it’s just continuing. What would you expect? Every job not nailed to the floor is moving offshore, until our currency adjusts. It would all happen overnight but for the fact that there is, you might say, a “terminal velocity” in job offshoring.

By: Mark E Hoffer

Mark E Hoffer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:30:45 +0000

O, and CJ, I hear you, re: willid, though, to me, he’d be better w/o the BDS, in specific, and the whole “Left/Right” charade, in general..

By: Mark E Hoffer

Mark E Hoffer — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:28:57 +0000

and, from a different POV–Resource Constraints

“…”China’s goal is to create jobs in China and create goods in China,” Jack Lifton, a U.S.-based independent rare earths analyst. “We need to start producing these metals here [United States] as we did in the past. If we don’t do that, China will be the only country manufacturing devices using rare earths by the year 2015.”

A single mine in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region produces half of the world’s rare earths, with the rest coming from smaller mines in southern China as well as Russia, India and Brazil.

China keeps most of the minerals within its borders by restricting foreign shipments.

Authorities have been increasingly restricting exports in recent years as China seeks to prop up prices, ensure supply for its own needs and create jobs for millions of migrant workers by luring foreign companies to its shores…”
http://www.industryweek.com/articles/china_corners_rare_metals_market_20433.aspx

two guesses as to why CNOOC wanted to buy Unocal..

“We need to start producing these metals here [United States] as we did in the past.” from above..

care to guess the reasons given for shutting down our Domestic Production?
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=Rare+Earths+mining+in+the+U.S.

By: Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:53:23 +0000

S Brennan:
Bingo! But we can’t have that here with our government run by the banksters and Chamber of Commerce bloodsuckers.

By: alfred e

alfred e — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:52:42 +0000

Well our BananAmerica corporate elite have been well along the path of bleeding the US dry and investing capital abroad in the next “new growth markets” for several years now.

This structural revision is not about BananAmerica’s future improving. It’s about BananAmerica being abandoned, and left to the dregs to fend for themselves. Downhill from here. It’s like bacteria in a petri dish. They consume local resources and then move on to new territory.

And yes Germany is still prospering because they never caught bananAmerica fever.

And yes, the reverse brain drain is accelerating.

Will the last person standing please turn the lights out.

By: Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:51:48 +0000

Mark E Hoffer:
I think you and willid3 are basically saying the same thing. Just different ways of making your points. Did it start before NAFTA? You bet it did. NAFTA is just that big red blinking light. The symbol of all that is wrong with the USA’s corporate culture.

By: willid3

willid3 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:23:02 +0000

S Brennan you might be correct for Germany as you pointed out some thing that isn’t true in the US. given that, I think its true of the US, but is not a generally true else where.