Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - I think that with GBS/GTS it would be more the case that they may have been waiting for clients projects and contracts to be decided on. I would guess that their pipeline is getting smaller and the BP communities pipelines, who offer a cheaper price point, are getting bigger. Sort of ties in nicely with the link Volker posted earlier

{ Link }

As someone who has been in that type of role, there is nothing more nervous than being on the bench for a long time - regardless of good times or bad times.

2 - "Hence, just ship all the jobs overseas so the cost of doing business in the US is cheaper."

Is it really cheaper in the long run? I am not talking about the cost of doing business but the cost to this nation as a whole. When jobs continue to move offshore what businesses will be left to sell to in the US? When people have no jobs, they stop buying, when they stop buying, businesses shed jobs, but you can't shed what you already outsourced - the only thing left to do is to close down. Almost sounds like what happens in a recession....

I know this is a simplistic explanation of complex problems but I feel it is indicative of what can happen in the future if this country and the businesses that operate here continue its current practices

3 - I fully agree with you, Jim. I keep mentally running outsourcing/offshoring out to its ultimate conclusion, and it's not a happy ending. Couple that with the start of calls for a new international currency for reserves (instead of the US dollar), and things get REALLY ugly. Of course, then they can outsource back to the US for all the cheap labor that will exist here at that point.

Yeah, Tony... I didn't do consulting for long, but the bench was a scary thing when the economy wasn't growing...

4 - I just want to make it long enough to reach the old age home

5 - At the rate I'm aging, that should be, oh... 2010. :)

6 - Sadly for most of us in the west we have been the ones with and the others are the ones that have been without.

Eventually things will level out, which means our salaries and disposable incomes will go down whilst poorer countries will go up. Interestingly, India is starting to appear expensive to some companies so they are looking at cheaper alternatives again.

The good news? The super wealthy will stay super wealthy and will have more people fighting to do their lawns.

7 - Could it be that the "no comment" policy means they're trying to save as much jobs as they can as they go? Instead of laying off 20000 on one go and get over with it?

Layoffs suck, we in the "poorer countries" are quite used to it, everything has been outsourced to India 10/15 years ago, all the US companies left long time ago. I guess it turned around and got you guys.

8 - Besides for countries like China where you can always discuss if it is good to make business with a totalitarian regime there is nothing wrong with off-shoring (imho). At the end it is the customer who has to decide what they want (and what not). Unfortunately at least for consumer articles not buying products e.g. made in China became impracticable. At least for larger countries I see protectionism as a working instrument. You just have to do it. If I should work for Indian wages I would at least also like to have Indian costs (housing, electricity, taxes, food aso).

9 - How's this for irony? Layoffs just got here.

10 - I'm sorry to hear that, Vitor. All it took is for me to be laid off one time before I realized I'd never wish that experience on anyone...