"Gates: Microsoft to Invest $1.7B in India"

NEW DELHI (AP) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) plans to invest $1.7 billion in India and add 3,000 jobs in the country over the next four years, nearly doubling the world's largest software company's work force here, Chairman Bill Gates said Wednesday.

Microsoft Corp. has long viewed India, a country of 1 billion people with a robust economy, as a potentially huge market, and the investment would be one of the single largest by an information technology company in India.

Much of the money would go toward improving the software giant's research and development capabilities, including the creation of a new facility in the southern city of Bangalore, India's technology hub, Microsoft said in a statement.

"We are keen to grow Microsoft activities in India," Gates told reporters.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20051207/D8EBCJE81.html

This is what we can expect to keep happening as we continue to decay. Jobs and corporations will move to the 'robust economies'. But there's good news--as India and China become more prosperous, wages will go up and the jobs will come back here. But not until our wages/benefits have tanked.

When by that time it will be required to teach that the world is 10,000 years old and that there is no Evolution? What kind of tech company would hire from that work force?
*'s future vision is that of a nation of wal mart employees, buying from each other...

piece by piece. I understand there might be govt backing in this as well.

in China and India start to mature and their expectations for wages and such rise, the corporate masters will move to the next slave state.

in the US

Multinational companies like Microsoft and FoMoCo aren't going away, it's the jobs that are being offshored. There is nothing to stop this until the Democrats get back into power and impose Fair Trade requirements. I'm afraid by then, we'll all be out of work, the Dollar will be worthless, and the only Americans who will be able to buy anything will be investors.

It losing jobs because it's losing market share. It's just a very poorly run company.

I mean I'll vote for them, of course, but they feed at the same trough as the re:puke:s and many of them are just as addicted. Remember...

With all the call center jobs goiing to India, it stands to reason there would be money to be made in supporting that.

He took programming here in Canada. Couldn't find a job to save his life, ended up working for his aunt & uncle at a gas station.

In the spring, he got a contract in New Delhi (or somewhere near there). he was only supposed to be there for 6 mos. and come back. But he's getting lots of work there and more offers from other companies. So it looks like he's staying there.

Looks like India is the next big hotspot for developers, not California.

His Esteemed Holiness Preznit G.W. Bush assured us that the economy is strong! Now you KNOW that our Glorious Supreme Leader Bush speaks truth so therefore, it must be true! Besides, these outsourcing will only make your Dell computers "more affordable". ;) (Republican logic)

I sympathize with U.S. job losses and I believe we need to end incentives for companies to outsource. But ultimately poor nations are not going to acquire capital without competing with American workers for jobs and poor nations are not going to acquire capital without foreign direct investment.

I admit that I find DU trade discussions very uncomfortable. I DO think that our job market is screwed up, that we lack a social safety net, that we don't have a strong educational system, and that our corporate structure is incredibly flawed. But at the end of the day, other nations deserve a slice of the pie as well. And too often, whether it's intentional or not, I detect xenophobic or nationalistic tones that imply that people in other countries don't deserve "American" jobs. I'm not pretending there are easy answers to this, but unless we're going to close the borders completely and run a protectionist state, then jobs WILL go to countries where labor is cheapest. And for all the talk about enforcing labor standards in other countries, even THEN there will be countries where labor is better-priced. India has strong labor unions, it has a democratic government and a free-press along with a low-cost of living. Indian tech workers don't work in an environment that any American tech worker - or any average American - would consider appropriate. They work much longer hours and receive much less pay. But the cost of living is much lower and these workers are willing to work for hours on end. A minimum-wage at the American level is not what the market in India can support and is well above the cost-of-living.

Again, I'm not arguing that there aren't problems with outsourcing or foreign investment - there are losers in any equation and there are no easy answers. All I'm saying is that we need to be aware of the other side of the coin. If you don't believe in any trade, fine, then argue for a protectionist stance. And if you believe in some other kind of trade, please outline what that would be and explain how you would (a) keep and grow American jobs, (b) introduce capital into foreign markets, and (c) create industries, jobs, and improved standards of living in third-world countries. I'm not being snarky - I'm genuinely interested in what people have to say on this. The problem in the Indian situation is people keep saying that we need to compete on an equal playing-field. Well, the American-to-Indian playing field is significantly fairer than Cambodian sweatshops. Even on an even playing-field there are going to be advantages other nations have that will cost us jobs. That's the reality of the trade cycle, even a fair-trade one.