Connersville HOH!!! (Cambridge City: house, unemployment, buying)

[Southside Shrek]

Ni hao ma Domergurl? Oui Oui. China is indeed a large economic power but they still have millions of poor people in rural China.

they are also working on the military part, including shooting satellites out of space.

[mbuszu]

Originally Posted by domergurl

Well, it's now confirmed that China rules the world. Economically anyway.

I read in the Star today that there are about 1,000 call center jobs coming to Indiana. So goodbye manufacturing and hello entry level crap call center jobs!!! Wonder if this state will spend money to train the assembly line workers how to do those call center jobs!

Outsourcing and Offshoring is on its way to critical mass. 1st step was outsourcing of the low-skill/low-education positions. 2nd step which is several years already underway is outsourcing for the skilled/high education positions. I've seen it from within a Fortune Global Top 10 company where I've been - over the past 7 years I've seen the upper management change in direction/strategy (and even change of management from those which resisted the idea to those that support it).

It's an interesting thing seeing it from the inside - and also being an information junkie/professional researcher anyway I feel like I can see what's going on sometimes a bit better than the execs making the decisions - because it's my job. The issue is that public companies (any company with stock anyone can buy) are designed to just make profit to facilitate higher stock price. Unfortunately, the corporate execs/officers and board members are driven and incented to just drive profit regardless of the environment and effect on populations of people. Since the average tenure of an exec in a particular position is only 2-5 years, you can imagine that there isn't much incentive to have "long-term" thinking - just to make money before leaving.

There is also the little known fact that the international legal entity of a "Corporation" literally has been granted rights as though a living individual (through several decades of misguided supreme and international court decisions) - they have the right to exist, the right to pursue profit and business growth, and literally hundreds of "rights" that rationally only living beings should have. These rights make it very hard to pursue legislation against corporations.

All these things and because our government which is the only institution that can protect its citizens has instead chosen to pursue allowing the outsourcing/offshoring, means that we're in trouble. What you are seeing at the micro level of Indiana is indeed a national crisis, not unique to this small neck of the woods. The German company Daimler has literally run Chrysler into the ground, while GM and Ford are on their way under through their own mismanagement. Unfortunately, this goes way beyond the US automotive industry though. I saw in public university 7 years ago the faculty members of my school's MBA program transform - to where it has now had an Indian dean for the past 7 years, and the faculty of about 17, now is composed of 10 Indian Professors - all educated at least in part of their college careers in India. Does that seem ok to anyone else? This is not unique to one state, one school, nor one Fortune top 500 company... this all over. Everyone is just sitting back and watching too.

I don't have a crystal ball but I seriously hope that something regulatory government-wise is put in place very soon to limit and un-incent outsourcing. Sure you can say that as long as people overseas will work for less, we'll just be hurting our international "competitiveness" - but I would estimate we're not going to do to well in the next generation if we have outsourced everything and the big corporations are all India or China-based.

[domergurl]

I used to be a professional researcher too ... a long time ago!

Anyway, this country is moving toward a service economy rather than a manufacturing economy. The same thing happened eons ago when we moved from a farming economy to an industrial/manufacturing economy. It's sad because I look at someone like my dad who made his living, sent me to college, etc. on his manufacturing job paycheck. Now, he's nearing retirement and the right time. Fortunately, he won't need to look for work elsewhere. But those in their 20's-40's who are nowhere near retirement age, who have worked in manufacturing are the ones who are going to be hosed.

I did read that Toyota is going to start building the Highlander in Alabama, so between them and Mercedes, Bama is probably going to become an automotive assembly hub. Of course, all the parts will be coming from elsewhere, so the ancillary businesses will be gone.

This country is going through a mean transistion and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

And I didn't go to business school, but my graduate school experienced the same thing as yours mb! A majority of the faculty are now Indian.

[Southside Shrek]

Ross Perot was right. we obviously needed much more protectionist trade policies to help protect this country from falling into the sorry situation it has.

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Southside Shrek

Ross Perot was right. we obviously needed much more protectionist trade policies to help protect this country from falling into the sorry situation it has.

I just said that very same thing the other night.

[Southside Shrek]

Domergurl, sadly we haven't been making any real friends in the process either.

[discontented lot owner]

Look before ya leap. I appreciate everyones honesty about the Connersville area.. I am really concerned about the whole financial health of the nation and the preservation of the middle class. The top executives have been preachin for the last 2 decades-WE NEED TO GO GLOBAL ON A GLOBAL MARKET.My opinion is -WHY ARENT THE EXECUTIVES SALERY ON A GLOBAL MARKET? They have found a way to take our jobs away thru NAFTA and compromise our wages down to existing . Why cant we GLOBALIZE the 3 million dollar per year U S executive jobs and REPLACE EM WITH Mexican and Chinese executives making say $20 K per Yr? THEN WE ALLLL CAN BE GLOBAL!!!!!

[highliner]

Perhaps that new auto assembly plant near Batesville ( or is it Greensburg) will compensate for some of the jobs lost in your area. Construction is already underway, isn't it? In addition, the Japanese just love to have their pass through suppliers build plants within an hour's drive of their final production facilities. It's had an amazing boom effect in central Kentucky, and in south western Indiana, as well. I am a Kentuckian with a professional background in law enforcement and transportation, and I am still amazed at how much our economy has benefited from the change to a Toyota-influenced economy.

[JRB73IN]

They are building the new honda plant on the northwest side of Greensburg, it wont be ready until like 2008.

[Southside Shrek]

highliner
I believe it's a new Honda plant going up in Greensburg, IN.