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"Thinking Beyond Technology: Creating New Value in Business (published by Palgrave Macmillan) is a book for IT professionals that examines the use of technology by society over the past 10 centuries. Using historical parallels, Joseph DiVanna, an ex-CIO and former member of CSC Index's acclaimed Research and Advisory Service, looks at how technology users adopt and adapt their behaviours to employ technology in ways sometimes counter to a technology’s original design.
"

"Okay, perhaps they aren't ABSOLUTE evil, but many times they can be more problems than they are worth. How many times have you bought something advertising nearly a third off the purchase price if you simply mail in a card to the manufacturer? How often did you actually bother? Or are you like me and completely forget about the rebate until the last day of eligibility? Read the entire story here, http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=15 "

"Congress Ready to Tackle Tech Issues in 2006

Spyware, data security, and telecom reform will be on the agenda next year.

Grant Gross, IDG News Service
Tuesday, December 27, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Congress will face a broad range of technology-related issues, including communications law reform and data-privacy issues, when it returns to work in 2006.
"

"Murder of call centre worker shocks Bangalore
[ Saturday, December 17, 2005 10:58:45 amTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
NRI New Year Gift, FREE Calling Card
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates


BANGALORE: Being the largest BPO hub in the world, over 200 domestic, multinational, captive and pure-play companies in Bangalore employ two lakh call centre executives, of which women account for 50%.
"

"The end of the age of the techie?

By Steve Ranger
http://news.com.com/The+end+of+the+age+of+the+techie/2100-1022_3-5946781.html

Story last modified Fri Nov 11 11:01:00 PST 2005

Good technical skills won't be enough for workers who want to hold onto their jobs in information technology, as potential employees will need to demonstrate new business skills to attract employers(Read More).
"

Thought For Labor Day: Conservative Dogma Pulling Marx Out of His Grave

By Paul Craig Roberts

Libertarians and free trade economists don’t realize it, but they are pulling Marx out of his grave.

Free traders are resurrecting class war, not because they are Marxists but because they confuse free trade with global labor arbitrage. Free traders turn cold shoulders to US job losses from offshore outsourcing, because they mistake the losses for the beneficial workings of comparative advantage.

Committed to a 200 year old theory that they no longer understand, free traders are cheering on the destruction of middle class jobs and the dismantling of the ladders of upward mobility that make large income disparities politically acceptable. (Read More)

"Int'l unions to strategize in Chicago By Alonso Soto
Sat Aug 20, 8:33 AM ET

Union leaders from around the globe gather in Chicago next week to craft a joint strategy to boost unionization in the developing world, and especially to target the U.S.-based retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc (Read More).
"

"Membox-The nerve center of IT Employment.

The Australian IT Professionals forum http://www.brainbox.com.au has expanded to provide a forum for IT workers of the North American continent. Check it out. MemBox - http://www.membox.com"

" U.S. layoffs highest in 17 months

Wednesday, July 06 15:33:57

(BizWorld)

The number of planned job cuts in the U.S. rose to 110,996, the highest in 17 months, according to outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. (Read More)"

"High-tech nomads

By CARY LEIDER VOGRIN THE GAZETTE

Michael Watson goes wherever the next job takes him.

He’s spent 14 months in Djibouti on the coast of eastern Africa. He’s worked in Virginia and Maryland for a few weeks at a time. (Read More)
"

Submitted by Dave L:

What CAFTA is and why it must be defeated (link)

"The Economic Times Online
Printed from economictimes.indiatimes.com > Economy> Indicators
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rs 21k cr as bribes! That's Indians

Rupees 10 Million= 1 Crore Rupees.
Rupees 210 Million=21 Crore Rupees,
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, JULY 01, 2005 01:43:04 AM]
Surf 'N' Earn -Sign innow
NEW DELHI: The common man pays bribes totalling Rs 21,068 crore a year for various public services , says the ‘India Corruption Study — 2005’, released by Transparency International on Thursday. (Read More)
"

"
http://www.unsustainable.org/view_art_un.php?AID=320

Whither Japan? Readers of this space don't need to be reminded how strong Japanese economic fundamentals truly are. Japan after all earned a world record current account surplus of $181 billion last year. That said, various difficulties, most obviously high oil prices, are now cramping Japan's style. In the short-term -- the next three months -- we may see the yen drop as Japan's trade figures sag. One thing is certain: Japan's public relations spokesmen will make the most of the bad news. By Eamonn Fingleton.



"

From Professor Norm Matloff's H-1B/L-1/offshoring e-newsletter.
Professor Matloff writes:

Andrew Mo, the new graduate profiled at the beginning of the enclosed article, has a good attitude. By "good" I mean in the survival sense. He has found that his original goal of developing software in Silicon Valley is now unattainable, so he is looking on the bright side and saying why his alternative in a business career is actually better.

Though I'm sure the author of the article didn't notice it, and in fact the many readers of this e-newsletter who sent me the article probably didn't notice it either, Mr. Mo's upbeat approach to life is exactly why the organizations pushing for genuine H-1B reform have had such an uphill battle: Large numbers of their potential recruits see the handwriting on the cubicle wall and change professions, as opposed to fighting. This is especially true of the Chinese immigrants, one of the pragmatic groups on Earth. (I chuckled when I saw the enclosed article cited in a college student newsgroup today, with the title "Even Chinese staying away from Engineering.") But of course the Chinese are not alone in this. As any of the organizers of movements to reform H-1B can tell you, the half-life of membership in such groups is pretty short, as most people rather quickly accept their fates and decide to move on with their lives (Read More).

Just a note that you can submit articles and essays if you join. We are currently running over 1,700 articles - making us not only the best library for offshoring and H-1b reform - but one of the best archives on the web.

It's a data miner's delight. Come log-in and join the fun!

"By Alan Tonelson
Monday, June 13, 2005
http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/view_art.asp?Prod_ID=1970

Just over 50 years ago, U.S. Army lawyer Joseph Welch brought to a crashing halt the career of Sen. Joseph McCarthy with the question, “Have you no decency, sir? Have you, at last, no sense of decency?�

Economist Gary Hufbauer of the Institute for International Economics is no Joe McCarthy, but a new report of his, just plopped into the middle of the national debate on CAFTA, has us asking the same question – and not just to him, but to the reporters and editors who still take his work seriously (Read More).
"

"http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1827952,00.asp
(Use the URL to check for comments to the article. - jgm)

A More Perfect (IT) Union
By Jim Rapoza
June 20, 2005

Actors' guild may be a good model for potential IT workers' union.

My recent column on the disconnect between the claims of large technology companies that there is a shortage of qualified IT workers and the simple fact that there are tens of thousands of qualified and experienced workers out there looking for jobs received a ton of responses. I heard from readers who have lost jobs and have yet to get new ones, as well as from those still in a job but fearing its future security. (Read More)
"

"(While this article is not directly related to offshoring it is the first article I've read that disuses the disarray of the so-called science of economics. Economists are fond of making oracle pronouncements such as “Outsourcing is good for America.� The reality is that they don’t have a clue what is really happening.

That makes my economic pronouncements just as valid as any given by a "free trade" economist. My personal belief is that because of the soaring trade deficit caused by the offshoring of American manufacturing and jobs, the U.S economy is now a house of cards on the verge of collapse. The American middle class is being destroyed in return for the short-term gain for a few plutocrats. The US economy, because of its size, can withstand this abuse for a time but I fear the day when the bill for our ever-increasing trade deficit comes due. Tragically I don’t see anything that will stop the current trends. Both political parties are utterly corrupt and neither represents the American middle class. – jgm)

Time to Toss The Textbook
Greenspan confessed again that he doesn't understand why rates on mortgages and long-term bonds keep falling. This is but one mystery.
By Robert J. Samuelson
Newsweek
Updated: 1:09 a.m. ET June 19, 2005

June 27 issue - If economics were a boat, it would be a leaky tub. The pumps would be straining, and the captain would be trying to prevent it from capsizing. Which is to say: our ideas for explaining trends in output, employment and living standards—what we call "macroeconomics"—are in a state of disarray. If you're confused, you're in good company. Only recently Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan confessed again that he doesn't understand why interest rates on long-term bonds and mortgages have dropped, just when the Fed is raising short-term rates. This is but one mystery. (Read More)
"

"
http://www.ieeeusa.org/releases/communications/releases/2005/061505pr.asp

Five U.S. Technical Job Classifications Show
Employment Drop, One Shows Steep Increase

WASHINGTON (15 June 2005) — Five major engineering and computer job classifications showed a drop in employment in the first quarter of 2005 vs. the 2004 average, while one showed a large increase, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (Read More).
"

"InformationWeek

Midcareer Crisis

The world for older IT pros is in flux: Jobs have never felt so precarious, and retirement looks very different. The easy answers--such as retraining--aren't so easy.(Read More)
"

"India Software Exports Soar To $12 billion, Says Nasscom

By K.C. Krishnadas Courtesy of EE Times

BANGALORE, India — Software and service exports in India grossed $12 billion in 2004-05, 34 percent higher than $9.2 billion in 2003-04, according to figures released by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).

With a large labor pool and favorable labor costs, India continues to be the world's leading exporter of software services. Similar growth is predicted for the 2005-06 fiscal year.

"The Indian software and services industry has been able to maintain its growth momentum and consolidate its partnership with overseas customers, adding to their competitiveness," said S. Ramadorai, Nasscom's chairman. "The industry also scaled record levels of employment in FY 04-05, with the employee base crossing the 1 million mark."
Ramadorai added, "The industry is in a strong position to leverage the global software opportunity and establish India as the premier IT destination in the world. To sustain our competitive advantage, the industry must engage closely with academia to create the right talent pool, collaborate with the hardware industry in microelectronics and embedded software, maximize employment opportunities and elevate service excellence through R&D and quality-benchmarked delivery," he added."

"Survey: Tech Workers Had The Job Blues In May

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee Courtesy of InformationWeek

Job confidence among tech workers plummeted in May to the lowest levels since professional staffing and outsourcing firm Hudson began tracking employment-market optimism trends 18 months ago. (Read More)
"

"The editor commented that he would not be voting for John McCain becase of his stand on the Southern border. Actually there is a even better reason to oppose him.

In the year 2000 John McCain was the Senator who led the Senate floor fight to raise the H-1b limit from 120,000/year to 195,000/year. His reward for betraying American workers was that he received twice as much in campaign contributions from the hitech industry than any other Senator. You can check the archives of the Arizona Republic (www.azcentral.com) to see for yourself or can check out the following URL.

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/HB-1.htm

As a citizen of Arizona I will never vote for John McCain again for any office. - jgm
"

"(While American soldiers are dying trying to bring freedom to the Middle East Microsoft decides to censor the words freedom and democracy from Chinese blogs. What better example of the corruption of corporate America. - jgm)

Microsoft, China cooperating to censor blogs at Web portal

By Elaine Kurtenbach
The Associated Press

SHANGHAI, China — Chinese bloggers, even on foreign-sponsored sites, better chose their words carefully — the censors are watching. (Read More)
"

CT Citizens for immigration Control will have a demonstration in front of Joe Lieberman's Office, Saturday, June 25th at 9:30 am. (Read More)

The ITPAA is affiliated with WalMartWatch, a site started a few months back that... well.. watches WalMart. It appears that the organization is getting some press. Click here for a story from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about this new organization.

And no, we don't shop there.

"(Let the slaughter begin - jgm)

HP's strategy to include major layoffs
New chief executive faces the difficult task of cutting costs

Benjamin Pimentel, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, June 5, 2005

Mark Hurd, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, says the company will ... (Read More)
"

A High-Tech Workers Guide to Globalization's Myths

Copyright 2005 by Rabindra P. Kar.
Permission is hereby given to reproduce this material without charge on condition that:
(a) Material is reproduced in unedited form. (b) The author is acknowledged.

Myth 1: Free Trade is an economic wonder. "Protectionism" is a disaster.

No economy is completely free or completely closed. While "mainstream" U.S. economists tout the virtues of free trade, they barely mention all the restrictions we have on trade stemming from national security concerns (thousands of items restricted because of potential "dual-use"), moralistic reasons (e.g. on-line gambling), health/safety concerns (we can't even import medicine from Canada), or plain, old import quotas (e.g. textile import quotas, "voluntary" import quotas on cars made in Japan) (Read More).