[quote author="Nude" date=1225931500][quote author="EvaLSeraphim" date=1225930000][quote author="Nude" date=1225874046][quote author="CapitalismWorks" date=1225873949]Thanks for the links. These are exactly the reasons free trade is again under debate. Conceptually, comparitive advantage is unassailable. In practice is doesn't appear to have much merit. The huge gulf between developed and developing market standards of living basically makes domestic employees totally uncompetitive in a great number of fields. However, given that we are competing globally, I can't see a way around it.</blockquote>
If fossil fuels truly are depleting, rising costs to transport goods will negate the edge provided by lower labor costs.</blockquote>
For hard goods manufacturing, I think that is true. Knowledge work (IT programming, help desk, etc.) can be done anywhere now with little extra costs.
<em>Late to the party and turning into a freaking parrot.</em></blockquote>
My wife works for a rather large software company. The lack of qualified graduates has forced them into looking for talent from around the world and, when they find it, trying to secure them H1B visas so they can come work here. As those visas are being artificially restricted, her company has been forced to build and staff locations around the world while still paying them a salary that they would get in the US. The extra costs are not just infrastructure, but travel, lodging, and everything else that goes along with creating a workplace somewhere else. This company would ideally like to hire domestically, but if the pool of available talent doesn't meet their needs, their second choice would be to import those people. The very last thing they want to do is build company towns around the world just to stay competitive because it is incredibly inefficient when it comes to actually creating something that requires input and co-operation from so many individuals.
Phone-based customer support is one thing, because a few weeks of training can supply you with plenty of workers. It's not the same for people who need specific college degrees to even get an interview.</blockquote>
You DON"T need a lot of training for IT. The IT managers that I befriended with at one company, used to call a local community college looking for people. In the peak these people were getting paid nearly 6-figure for just a few courses at CC.