I'm looking forward to your explorations.

...a knowing wink (an homage?) to the first presidential debate when the hapless, heaving, smirking, sighing, glob-of-spit-in-the-corner-of-his-mouth Bush, yet again at a loss for a coherent answer, sputtered, "See, (long pause, hands pressed to his chest) I know how the world works!...".

Well done!

It will be very interesting to track this blog to see if there are postings and/or responses related to outsourcing. My profession (medical transcription) is currently being outsourced at an alarming rate, primarily to India. In theory this works spectacularly, because while we sleep they type... The problem lies in quality control. If I've misunderstood a physician's dictation I can ask him to clarify, while someone in Bangalore just is stuck. Consider that this may be your medical record...

While I truly believe that the more "global" the international economy becomes the better it will be for the majority of humanity, I wonder how long "the powers that be" in this country will sit by and watch jobs and industry flee. Looking forward to reading on a VERY regular basis!

This blog is on a timely topic.

I am concerned that outsourcing and the doubling of the global labor force means firms don't value employees as highly. My admittedly anecdotal impression is that less training is going on, as firms don't invest in (American) human capital.

Think of how many high tech companies were spawned by the big computer companies in Silicon Valley. I think capitalists and CEO's have become addicted to ever higher profits through diminished investment in human resources and attrition domestically, while plowing profits into their expanded labs in India. We are abandoning ourselves. We are eating our seed corn. Computer science enrollment has declined by about a third, because the jobs for graduates just aren't there.

I have had alot of exhanges via blogs with liberal economists and I see real ideological blinders here. Liberal economists and the mainstream Democrats do not see that we need to care for our workers or protect jobs. Rather, they believe, on the basis of an ideology ('free market') that this must work out the best for everyone in the long run. What distinguishes Democrats from Republicans is that Democrats justify it on the basis of how it reduces poverty in the 3rd world, whereas Republicans just want to beef up profits for their corporate donors. What does that do for me, an American worker (and voter)?

Meanwhile, nothing, repeat nothing, in our current trends show that the faith in free-market globalization to be justified, from the point of view of the American worker. Wages are declining, good jobs are disappearing, benefits are decreasing, inequality is increasing. Where is this taking us?

This blog is about more than yourself, is it not? Twenty years ago... You chose the meaning of your life - you picked a mission for yourself, did you not?

I wonder what you will make of this blog. This tribune is like no other. You are beholden neither to the story nor by the facts; here, you are just a man. You have no oath to impartiality. So I wonder - who is your master?

I cannot picture you a disciple, in belief subordinate to another man. I believe your life is your own - and to myself hope to be right. So here we face a false dichotomy: selfless and dedicated to a benevolent cause of your own making, or living in egoism, seeking for yourself a comfy niche?

Express yourself freely. Influence thoughts. Create memes. Whose lives will you touch with your words? Will you change the world by telling us how you view it?

Your words are strong, so I hope that your vision is a good and selfless one; that, guided by it, you will mark the world.

I try to see in others what I try to be myself. Odd.

Sum.

This is precisely the sort of thing Salon should be doing more often: balances the Broadsheet fluff. I especially would like to see entries that address:

1) The relationship between globalism and rapid technological change.

2) How culture and cultral industries "work" or don't in this new context.

3) How Western culture is being changed by contact with the rest of the world.

Best of luck to you.

Looking forward to it.

Cog

How do i subscribe to your blog feed? The current rss feed doesnt work. Is there an XML feed i can add to my aggregator without logging on every time.

I really, really wish I could say that the title of this blog was a clever play on our fumbling President's words, but alas, we aren't quite that smart. It was much more haphazard -- a catch phrase used around the office to describe a work-in-progress that somehow ended up etched in stone. I resisted it at first -- I mean, come on, philosophically speaking, I'm not sure it it even possible to fully figure out how everything works, but now I kind of like it.

As for the RSS feed -- it should be working shortly -- today I hope. Our tech department has been scrambling to deal with unexpected fallout from some hardware upgrades we did over the weekend, and their list of priorities to address is huge.

Great topic...

But,out of curiosity,why do you think that discussions about globalization always seem to concentrate on economics? Isn't there a lot more going on? And aren't we as Americans falling further and further behind in other ways as well? My fear is that we are about to turn our backs to the rest of the world. We have before.

Again, looking forward to this discussion. Thanks!

Being that I am challenged in languages outside of those of Latin derivation, I admire those with ability and willingness to teach our communication, if not our culture, to those in areas of the world previously closed off to us. Yes, you were at the leading edge, enabling the Chinese and Taiwanese to participate in the global economy. We need to be doing the same thing here at home.

I've spent the better part of this decade helping high tech companies take advantage of the Chinese labor market. That, unfortunately, is how many CEOs view globalization: cheap labor to improve profit margins. But what about the other side? What incentive, other than rapidly declining US Dollar, does China have for doing business with us? With more Chinese learning English and working for American companies, we cannot assume we will always be the global leader. We need to figure out what to offer in return--what we can bring to the global exchange. Who and when will someone be here to teach us Mandarin?