Thursday July 31

God Bless India

A friend of mine recently sent me this article in Time that claims the American middle class is threatened by the migration of skilled labor to foreign countries, particularly India. This argument is so incredibly short sighted and easy to disprove that it really frustrates me every time I see another scary article about it.

One minute, Americans cry about all of the poor, starving nations that we are doing nothing to help. Then, when one of those nations starts to educate itself and pull its own weight, we complain that they are threatening us! Would we prefer that these Indians go back to being poor and uneducated?

I am thrilled to see a class of people rising up to provide a real value to the economy. Americans may lose their jobs, but at the same time the Indians will help Americans drive bigger profits, which only puts more money in the hands of American shareholders, which creates more jobs for Americans and people all over the world.

If the American middle-class thinks they deserve a paycheck even after their skills become outdated, then the future of our country is bleak. Unionizing or asking for government restrictions on foreign labor is a nice way to save jobs in the short term. In the long term, however, it has the obvious effect of de-motivating Americans from developing new ideas and learning new skills, while simultaneously wasting all of the value that foreign countries can provide to our economy.