A reader responds to "It's global, stupid:"
... it has been stated that by 2010, two workers will be retiring for every person entering the workforce. It does not take a math major to figure out that that means there will be a lot of jobs needing workers as we reach the end of the decade. The glut of excess jobs will either force more immigration to the United States, OR, it will force more outsourcing to other countries.
Randy Henderson responds:
True, but what kind of jobs will we have? Other countries and states continue to exceed us in vital investments and results in education and research. They will be creating the skilled workers and future technologies or industries, not us. So rather than attracting and building the hot new companies, Washington will have a glut of fry cook positions.
Further, this also means that one worker will now be supporting the medical and social security costs of two or more retirees. We need to (sadly) extend the age limit for full retirement benefits, as well as improve the efficiency and costs of our health care delivery systems, and create high-paying jobs and industries here.
Otherwise, we will be working two jobs to make today's wages, and fewer workers will just mean we have a better selection of second crappy jobs.
We do need to invest in developing countries, and allowing outsourcing does help create labor and trade partners rather than angry terrorists and starving children. But we must also invest in ourselves.
It's rarely wise to quit your job if you don't have something else already lined up. Likewise, it isn't wise to outsource our jobs if we don't have something else, something new and hopefully better, lined up for our workers. That requires investments in our future that Washington just isn't making.
Written by Randy Henderson of NEXT
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