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This blog is for Watauga High School students taking the Scientific and Technical Visualization class. We are reading and discussing Thomas Friendman's book "The World is Flat". Watauga High School is not responsible for the content of any student entry or any links that might be added by students.
Welcome
In this blog we will be discussing the book ,The World is Flat, By Thomas L. Friedman.
The World is Flat
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2008
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March
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- We're BACK!! Read 316-329
- Read 308-316 Due 11:30 am on March 21, 2008
- Due March 20, 2008 - 11:30AM - READ 300-308
- Read 285-300 - We're halfway there!
- Read 278-285
- For Thursday, March 13
- From Command and Control to Collaborate and Connect
- Due Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 11:30am
- Who is Exploiting Whom? - Due March 7 - 11:30AM
- The Great Sorting Out - Due 3/5 at 11:00 AM
- Next discussion due Tuesday, March 4 - 11:30AM
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March
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4 comments:
Does free trade still exist in a flat world? As he sets out to explore this dilemma, Friedman considers the banning of outsourcing, an action called for by many, to protect our country’s workers and the effect such an action would have on globalization. He concludes that erecting borders and walls would be detrimental to our goals and that Americans must instead be prepared to compete on a global playing field. Friedman encourages better education and training, as Americans now compete not only with other Americans, but with the most brilliant minds around the globe for positions. We explore the “lump of labor” theory and new job creation in a global economy. He identifies the workers that will suffer most, should they be unable to keep ahead of the globalization trend, and offers large-scale suggestions to remedy this problem. Using the history of the American agricultural industry as an indicator of future trends in various industries today, he stresses the importance of an ability to adapt and specialize where there is a need. We learn that fear stimulates change and that this is a good thing. America and Free Trade- This is the idea that "even as the world gets flat, America as a whole will benefit more by sticking to the general principles of free trade, as it always has, than by trying to erect walls, which will only provoke others to do the same and impoverish us all." And "while protectionism would be counter-productive, a policy of free trade, while necessary, is not enough by itself. It must be accompanied by a focused domestic strategy aimed at upgrading the education of every American, so that he or she will be able to compete for the new jobs in the flat world. i'm sorry for posting so much lol
sage said it as well as any of us could, Thomas Friedman talks about the issues with banning or regulating outsourcing and comes to the realization that as long as we keep coming up with new ideas and products there will always be jobs in the american market because whether we know it or not there are thousands of private small businesses being started now which offer anywhere from 5 to up in the hundreds of jobs. i have first hand experience with that type of business seeing as my dad has started two businesses which combined offer over 400 jobs to immigrants and americans alike. One business being golf course maintenance, which operates in several states but is headquartered here, and the other business being Hampton Estates which you may have seen on your way out of boone heading towards deep gap, its the new development being built on the hill across from the industrial park. In american society the reason many people worry about outsourcing is because we are convinced that there is just a chunk of jobs to be had and once they are taken there won't be any more jobs which is referred to as the "lump of labor" theory, this theory is very wrong because it is based on the assumption that everything that will be invented has been invented already, which is false in every sense of the word because there are constantly new ideas and products being thought of every day.
Those are some pretty hard comments to follow up to, but I'll add what I can. First off, he finally adresses the question that most of us as a class seem to have: shouldn't the government be putting restrictions on outsourcing and offshoring? It's even a controversial political issue which some politicians try to sweep under the rug and ignore that elephant (like hilary clinton), but others (like Barack Obama) are promising tax breaks and things for those companies that keep their businesses here in America, and adding taxes to those who take their jobs elsewhere. If they really can get their jobs done for so much cheaper overseas, they surely can afford it, right? Friedman says that we'd be better off not erecting those barriers, although I disagree. Something I find odd is that he goes on to discuss how people in places like China and North Korea get paid for the same work they would get paid like kings for in the US, but doesn't really mention an American getting paid better for a job in China than they do here, meaning he's not really arguing his point, just expecting us to take it as fact. He does touch on that it creates more competition for the American workers and he tries to take at the thought that possibly that would make them want to learn more and work harder, but neglects to mention the jobs we'll be losing as a result of this competition. We are/will be in the competition, but that doesn't guarantee us the win. He also talks about with the free trade market opening up and everyone having a chance at it, that it will push up the wage demands of people in China and India to our level, but never really talks about how long that might take, and how long people might go jobless because their job has been given to someone willing to work for 1/10th of what they do. He also only has negative things to say about the American unskilled labor workers future, saying that some of those jobs will be moved to places like China, and the only thing that people getting put out of those jobs here can do, is get a better education and be able to do the highly skilled jobs, neglecting this time to mention that not everyone has that learning capacity. I'm not saying that the outsourcing and offshoring is bad in every way, just pointing out that Friedman is forgetting about the average joe, your factory workers, blue collar men and women who need the wages they're getting now, and can't afford to lose their jobs. Just saying they can get more educated and doing the high level jobs, doesn't mean they have the time, money, or capacity to do so. He's illustrating a bleak future for john and jane doe.
this section is all about what we need to do concerning free trade ands wether or not it would be wise for the government to step in and put quoatas and such on offshoring and outsourcing in order to keep jobs in america. Essentially friedman says that after weighing all of the options of what and how the government would effect the economy by barging in on the flattening process that it seems better as if the government would just support the flattening because in the end the flattening process is inevitable.
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