I don’t know how to describe my mood as I “pen” this first of what will hopefully become a long series of “letters” to my friends, total strangers, myself — whoever chooses to read them. I’m ticked off. I’m saddened. I’m even a little hopeful — but not very.
I have been working these past 3 years for a large outsourcing company whose stated goal is to offshore 80% of its IT staff to India. The executives and their lackeys say they’re doing so “in order to survive”. Perhaps there’s some truth to that statement, but I suspect that unbridled greed is a more accurate description of the situation.
It’s not the first time I’ve worked for such a company. Indeed, I left (voluntarily) what was once a very enjoyable situation with a large telecom company that was also ditching Americans in favor of foreign workers at a (at that time) shocking pace. Their company line was that they were stripping away non-revenue functions and concentrating on their core competencies. (Yeah, you’ve likely heard that one before, too.)
Meanwhile, in my home state, Texas, I witness illegal immigrants displacing skilled workers, manual laborers, and service workers in record numbers. So, anyone thinking of leaving the technical, professional arena in order to, for example, learn a trade and start his own small business — one that can’t possibly be offshored — has to contend with that issue.
Then there’s our government. Republican, Democrat, or Independent, if you’re a fan of common sense, you can’t be happy with what’s going down today in terms of bail-outs, stimulus programs, and representatives and other officials constantly on the take. Oh, they are — you know they are.
So, how can I (or anyone who is chagrined by these matters) be hopeful? Well, it’s complicated. Part of it stems from my being a Christian. (I know how this story ends.) If that’s enough to offend you and cause you to stop reading this post, have a nice day.
Another stimulant for my hopefulness comes from the old adage that goes, “when you hit rock bottom, the only way to look is up”. I don’t know that we’ve hit rock bottom. There are unemployment rates in some states that break Great Depression era records. (Incidentally, I’ve recently begun to wonder what we’re going to call “The Great Depression” if our current economy continues to the point that it dwarfs that period in severity.)
But part of the hopefulness also stems from my belief that Americans, having been forced to do so by the greed of employers whose only god is their balance sheet, will return this country to an economic model based on the prevalence of small, even individually owned businesses. Perhaps we’ll learn to stand on our own feet now that corporate “America” (i.e., modern-day slave traders) are replacing us with those they say can do the work Americans do (or “won’t do”, as President Bush once claimed) for less than half the cost.
Still, unless our nation turns back to the God we once collectively served; unless we confess to and turn from the corruption that has infected our collective body, from our board rooms to our bedrooms, from our schools to our Senate; we, as a nation, are now and will continue to be totally and irreversibly lost. May God have mercy on us in whatever form it must take to avoid that!
Until next time…
SC
