COYNESS AND MORE
Reader Todd Fletcher agrees with my observation that InstaPundit has been coy about offshore contracting in the IT industry (a.k.a. "outsourcing," which is a rather confusing use of that term):
I've thought the same thing after his every post - "what exactly is his position on this?".
BTW, I work in the IT industry as a web developer, and I'm not worried about outshoring. The companies I've worked for are far too disorganized to send development projects overseas. Communication is the number one problem in software development, and I don't see how that's going to be improved by outshoring.
And reader James M. Woolley writes, in a message titled "Are you completely nuts as well as ignorant":
The pathetic rants and raves on your web site are simply unbelievable - especially that silly remark about that simpleton piece in Wired Magazine - the lowbrow's rag!
There are only a finite number of jobs in the US economy - once a critical mass number have been offshored we enter the cascading unemployment phase - when those jobs dependent on the offshored jobs and industries likewise disappear.
I strongly suspect you never had - or passed - linear algebra or multivariable calculus.
No matter.
Simple arithmetic, coupled with an adequate mind, should be enough to comprehend the present trends. It is no coincidence it appears quite similar to 1929, as around 2005 the fewmets will really hit the fan!!!!!!
You, my dear, are simply another example of the "woman & minorities" program run amok.
He's right about the math. I took just a year of calculus. But you don't need multivariable calculus to know that the number of jobs isn't fixed, now or 10 or 50 or 100 years ago. Trade and specialization create new value, and new jobs, all the time. Here's a good explanation of the mathematics of economic growth from Paul Romer, who did take lots and lots of math. (Unlike Paul, however, I wouldn't point to the Japanese construction business as a model.) Ron Bailey interviewed Paul for Reason here.