Outsourcing isn't bad, guys (Score 2, Insightful)

Outsourcing is not evil. It's not even a losing situation for those of us in the US. The fact is that outsourcing is the natural result of the constant shifting in how countries maximize their resources. India is a natural choice for American companies -- like Dell -- to outsource tech jobs, because there are plenty of people there who can 1) speak English, 2) do the work, and 3) do it for less money. Okay, so now you're saying, "Yeah, well, who cares about companies cutting their expenses? All that money goes into the pockets of the CEOs who are already ridiculously rich." Well, yes and no. But mostly no. Labor is always the most expensive item on a budget -- and that's why when times get tough, you see super-companies like GM and Ford and Boeing announcing thousands of layoffs. The overall cost of labor affects the bottom line -- especially in the highly competitive tech world, where the price of hardware is always coming down, but the cost of labor is constant or rising. Why do companies like Dell want to reduce their expenses? In Dell's case, it allows them to price their computers at a point that is much less than their competitors'. They sell more machines. If they don't have to pay their tech support $20/hour, they can move silicon at a faster rate, plain and simple, and the company can grow. If the company doesn't grow, plain and simple: it will die. And suddenly, you will have a lot more than a few tech support guys and engineers out of jobs; you'll have the sales staffs and accountants out of work, as well as the guy who runs the convenience store across the street from Dell HQ in Round Rock. The local Starbucks will have to cut back an employee or two. Guys, it's just a fact of the world economy. Some people will do the same work for cheaper. That genie's not going back in the bottle, and Bush is right: the alternative would be worse.