Storm Warnings – Off-Shoring to Degrade Living Standards
In business, there has been a huge trend towards the off-shoring of human resources. While most of
us have been impacted in some way by off-shoring, this was likely only a foreshadow of what’s to come; the practice is now poised to blow through the economies of the western world like Katrina blew through New Orleans and Mississippi.
Manufacturing is being shipped wholesale to China, as domestic labor cannot hope to compete against the near slave-wages of the workers provided by the communist nation. And the communists there are apparently using the tremendous profit windfalls to fund an unprecedented military modernization program. One might ask, against what enemy are they arming?
With a significant number of well-educated English-speakers, many jobs from the service sector are being off-shored to India. It is no longer simply information technology and call center workers; this is now becoming a trend in accounting, architectural work, and other sectors. Because of the disparity in pay rates, any task that can be well-specified is subject to being off-shored.
The only seemingly “safe” jobs are those that require close proximity (e.g. sales) or those that require a deep immersion into the local culture. Nearly everything else is “fair game”. But even many local jobs not subject to off-shoring face competition from cheap immigrants. When all is taken together, the situation could grow quite grim for the American worker. Recent trends showing that American workers are spending more than they earn will only exacerbate the problem.
Capitalism is not naturally a benevolent system, but this off-shoring trend isn’t simply a case of “evil” corporations. For most businesses, human resources are by far the largest expense associated with doing business. If a company’s competitors can cut expenses by 20% or more by off-shoring then, to compete, the company will be compelled to do the same. The alternative, in many cases, will be for the company to close its doors.
Governments could work to level the playing field, but the time for doing so is very late. Unless extreme care is taken, government action could be very disruptive to the economy and induce a severe recession.
What does all of this mean? It means that more judgment is coming to our shores. Unless there is a radical change in the situation, workers in the western world will have significantly reduced earning power and a standard of living in freefall. And since our governments depend upon the taxes of citizens to operate, there will be a resulting weakening in western power.
Add to this the spread of nuclear weapons technology to an already unstable middle-east, and we could soon face an “end-times” scenario.
What can one person do?
- Talk to your representatives!
- Get out of debt!
- Get right with God and pray for revival!
The storm clouds are getting stronger and darker, but one should not lose hope. Where there is yet life, there is hope; and the coming of our Lord draws nearer!
