[Assam] From NY Times

Tue Mar 7 09:45:39 PST 2006

>so stop global communication and go back to stone ages!!?

*** Is that the only alternative you could imagine?

At 5:29 PM +0000 3/7/06, umesh sharma wrote:
>Instant communicationa nd globalization is indeed changing the world 
>- causing redistribution of power and income. so stop global 
>communication and go back to stone ages!!?
>
>Umesh
>
>Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
>Feeling No Pain
>
>
>By PAUL KRUGMAN
>
>Published: March 6, 2006
>
>
>
>TODAY IN TIMESSELECT
>Op-Ed Podcasts
>
>The Opinionator
>
>Times Preview
>
>
>
>
>Now the American economy isn't doing as well as Bush partisans think
>it is. In fact, since the end of the 2001 recession, the recovery in
>jobs, output and especially wages has been unusually weak by
>historical standards. Still, the economy is expanding, so it's
>impressive just how large a majority of Americans disapproves of Mr.
>Bush's economic management.
>
>Why doesn't Mr. Bu! sh get any economic respect? I think it's because
>most Americans sense, correctly, that he doesn't care about people
>like them. We're living in a time when many Americans are feeling
>economically insecure, but a tiny elite has been growing incredibly
>rich. And Mr. Bush's problem is that he identifies so totally with
>the lucky, wealthy few that in unscripted settings he can't manage
>even a few sentences of empathy with ordinary Americans. He doesn't
>feel your pain, and it shows.
>
>Here's what Mr. Bush said in India, when someone raised the question
>of the political backlash against outsourcing: "Losing jobs is
>painful, so let's make sure people are educated so they can find -
>fill the jobs of the 21st century. And let's make sure that there's
>pro-growth economic policies in place. What does that mean? That
>means low taxes; it means less regulation; it means fewer lawsuits;
>it means wise energy policy."
>
>O.K., so you're a 50-year-old worker whose job has just been
>outsourced, and Mr. Bush tells you that you should go get a
>21st-century education and rejoice in the joys of a lawsuit-free
>economy. Uh-huh.
>
>Actually, Mr. Bush's remarks were even more off-key than they seem,
>coming during a visit to India. India's surge into world markets
>hasn't followed the pattern set by other developing nations, which
>started their export drive in low-tech industries like clothing.
>Instead, India has moved directly into industries that advanced
>countries like the United States thought were their exclusive turf.
>When Business Week put together a list of areas "where India has made
>an impact ... and where it's going next," that list consisted almost
>entirely of high-technology activities like software and chip design.
>
>What this means is that American workers whose jobs are threatened by
>Indian competition are, in many cases, people who thought they 
>already had acquired the skills to "fill the jobs of the 21st
>century" - but have just discovered that Indians, who are paid about
>a tenth as much, also have those skills.
>
>Am I saying that we should try to stop outsourcing? No. But if you
>don't feel conflicted about the effects of globalization, if you
>don't worry about the many losers from the process, you aren't paying
>attention. And American workers deserve a better answer to their
>concerns than yet another assertion that a rising tide raises all
>boats, because that's manifestly untrue.
>
>The fact is that we're living in a time when most Americans are
>seeing little if any benefit from overall income growth, because
>their share of the economic pie is falling. Between 1979 and 2003,
>according to a recent research paper published by the I.R.S., the
>share of overall income received by the bottom 80 percent of
>taxpayers fell from 50 percent to barely over 40 percent. The main
>winners from this upward redistribution of income were a tiny,
>wealthy elite: more than half the income share lost by the bottom 80
>percent was gained by just one-fourth of 1 percent of the population,
>people with incomes of at least $750,000 in 2003.
>
>And those fortunate few are the only people Mr. Bush seems to care
>about. Look at what he had to offer after asserting, in effect, that
>workers get outsourced because they don't have the right education:
>lower taxes, deregulation and fewer lawsuits. Funny, that doesn't
>sound like "pro-growth" policy to me. Instead, it sounds like a wish
>list for wealthy individuals and big corporations.
>
>Mr. Bush once joked that his base consisted of the "haves and the
>have-mores." But it wasn't much of a joke. His remarks in India show
>that he really can't imagine what it's like not to be a member of a
>privileged economic elite.
>
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>
>Umesh Sharma
>5121 Lackawanna ST
>College Park, MD 20740
>
>1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]
>
>Ed.M. - International Education Policy
>Harvard Graduate School of Education,
>Harvard University,
>Class of 2005
>
>
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