Economics 1A: Upside Down and Round About

It is just something about my nature that wants to keep things simple, reasonable and basically realistic. Thus, when I hear things that just make no sense coming from so-called “experts” and genius’ and gurus, I have to wonder, “what am I missing?” A really good example of this is the current job situation in our Bay Area neighborhood. There are several aspects of this problem that I really just don’t understand. Here are just a few of the major questions that come to my mind:

Special Visas for High Tech jobs — I have numerous friends who are in the 45-65 year old age bracket who are first-rate professionals in a variety of the technical fields, yet these guys can’t find jobs in their fields. Even so, the federal government provides these special visas so foreigners, usually younger people, can come in and take jobs which the locals could easily fill. What is this all about?

Shipping Jobs Offshore — So, thousands of jobs, usually pretty menial ones, are sent “offshore,” as they have come to call it, to save money by using cheaper labor. When you call customer service and get someone with a foreign accent, that is usually an offshore operation. We are calling half way around the world to talk to some foreigner about something as personal as my phone bill or my internet provider. Products ranging from underwear to cell phones and computers are being imported into the U.S. What is the U.S. making? Who is saving the money and who is getting screwed? What is this all about?

Buying Essential Infrastructure from foreign companies –

For this one, I simply think of the huge container cranes that were floated across the Pacific from China and they barely fit under the Bay Bridge before being installed in Bay Area ports . . .

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