Over the past few years we have had problems with our HP Computer System and AOL service. In both cases, after calling their 800 numbers, a tech would get on the phone to provide technical support. In hearing their accent I asked if they were in Bangalore, India and the answer was yes. FYI. India is rather unique in that they are 12 and a half hours ahead of the west coast.
After reading that “outsourcing business processes overseas is increasingly common in the banking, financial services, retailing, insurance, and telecommunications sectors” I also was told that even our x-rays have been outsourced. The following is on the net: Results of our X-rays sent electronically to India from Singapore will come back within 30 minutes under an outsourcing agreement that saves costs and benefits patients, doctors said Monday. Under the National Healthcare Group’s (NHG’s) agreement with India’s Teleradiology Solutions, a polyclinic has been sending about 700 X-rays a month to Bangalore. Do you know where your tax return was processed?
And now the latest in outsourcing comes from the print media where the OC Register is now starting to “outsource copy editing and layout duties” to India as stated below:
“US: Orange County Register to begin outsourcing editorial work to India
Posted by Liam Berkowitz on June 25, 2008 at 3:33 PM
The Orange County Register will outsource copy editing and layout duties to Mindworks, an Indian company, for a one-month trial. Editors at Mindworks will work five times a week on selected editing and layout assignments, and will be overseen by the Register’s editors.
“This is a small-scale test, which will not touch our local reporting or decision-making,” said Register deputy editor John Fabris.
The Register is not the first newspaper company to outsource work to India; the Sacramento Bee and the Miami Herald have both announced plans similar to the Register’s. Amid dropping circulation, outsourcing is becoming an increasingly viable option for newspapers looking to reduce costs – but it can also be a risk for editorial quality.
“In a time of rapid change at newspapers, we are exploring many ways to work efficiently while maintaining quality and improving local coverage,” Fabris said.
The good news is that the building trades should be a safe profession for Americans. I can’t see them outsourcing Roto Rooter or your local smell good plumber.
email reply:
hi larry,
how sad…first they made the pages smaller by an inch last week, now this
we cancelled our subscription three months ago
While I am tempted to follow your email response and drop mine as well, instead however I will send them my opinion as a subscriber for over 25 years.
I will not support the outsourcing of our middle class. Should this experiment become policy I will have no other alternative but to cease my subscription.
We need decent jobs here or none of us will be able to subscribe to anything.
time warner outsources some of their calls to costa rica. the woman i talked to told me she got 4 bucks an hour and that that was good money there. you think the bastards would charge less for cable but not the case.
Gee, I thought they had outsourced the whole editorial department years ago – to hell! – but that’s my problem with the Reg.
Regarding the whole outsourcing question I think we are seeing the downside of the whole laissez-faire capitalist system that has been allowed to occur when the federal and state government stoped facilitating equal opportunity for Americans (regulation).
We are in a winner-take-all economy and can forget about the rising tide raising all boats. Boats are sinking right and left and the middle-class that so many of us are proud products of is disappearing. Soon it will be the wealthy vs the poor, the intelligensia vs the service economy workers with the rich having no limitations other than the market and the poor having nothing but limitations from poor performing cash starved schools to crowded time-consuming public transportation and sobremercado’s without fresh food.
We will never see the end of TV’s and radio’s in the poor side of town though, hmmmmm, I wonder why?
anonyms.
While I do respect your passion, our elected officials need to switch chairs from time to time.
What is Larry smoking anyway?
Let’s forget which party we belong to and agree to work together for the benefit of all.
Perhaps we should disband the Democratic and Republican caucus’s and have one called the People’s caucus.
While everyone recognizes that we have two major related concerns, there are those who will never support the opposition party such as energy cost and availability that has a major domino effect on the squuishy economy. So we revert back to trench warfare such as the battle of the Marne in 1914.
“The German retreat between 9 September and 13 September marked the abandonment of the Schlieffen Plan. Moltke is said to have reported to the Kaiser: “Your Majesty, we have lost the war.” In the aftermath of the battle, both sides dug in and four years of stalemate ensued.”
Sounds like our State and Congressional legislators.
My challenge to all those Democrat’s out there is to contact your favorite Sacramento, California representative and tell them to support the nuclear energy proposals of Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. Unless and until you do that don’t blame Republicans for failing to take on this challenge.
“My challenge to all those Democrat’s out there is to contact your favorite Sacramento, California representative and tell them to support the nuclear energy proposals of Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. Unless and until you do that don’t blame Republicans for failing to take on this challenge.”
Larry, do you and Chuck have a solution to the nuclear waste concern that to many of us make nuclear power an unacceptible alternative? Outsourcing the waste disposal would be a good use of outsourcing (as long as you don’t truck it by my house on the way to the airport.
We could use those huge underground storage caverns created by the former Soviet Union during their underground testing of nuclear weapons. I understand that they have a thick sealed exterior created by cooled molten rock and as long as there isn’t an earthquake they should hold long enough for us to colonize another world.
Why doesn’t the Register outsource their management to Bangalore? I’m sure there are plenty of entrepreneurs who would work for far less than the current execs, and they might put some money into creating a product that people want, starting with better reporting and a balanced editorial page that isn’t dominated by anti-science cultists and Republican hacks.
I cancelled my Register a while ago because it was so empty and so bad, and the subscription rate continues to drop precipitously – down 12% on the daily paper in the last six months reporting period on the daily paper.
What to do with used nuclear fuel? One pound of uranium makes about as much energy as 6,500,000 pounds of coal. Coal waste is forever. Coal waste has heavy metals, including mercury. Burning coal generates enormous amounts of CO2.
Compared to coal waste, the volume of spent nuclear fuel is tiny, containable, and manageable. Many components of spent nuclear fuel are also valuable. Of course, we could always do what the French do and recycle used nuclear fuel, thus reducing the volume of the waste by 96 percent as well as greatly reducing the out-year radioactivity.
Lastly, if you think global warming is a problem now, then you must agree to put nuclear power on the table now. Nothing else can generate the vast amounts of power that we need in today’s modern society.
All the best,
Chuck DeVore
California State Assemblyman, 70th District
http://www.ChuckDeVore.com
Chuck –
What will you do in the Assembly to grow our nuclear power generation? As you’ve clearly already figured out, the time is now. I’m pretty sure the Governator agrees with us! Can we expect a bill on his desk soon?
Anonyms –
You can worry about a small amount of radiation from well-regulated spent nuclear fuel or an unlimited amount from the non-regulated UV rays from the sun. Your choice. 😛
Larry –
Sorry if we hijacked your thread. Whether it be jobs or toxic waste, outsourcing is just wrong and is just one more step towards total globalization.
SMS
So let me get this straight …
SMS (PhD?) points out that the sun is more dangerous than nuclear waste. (Really?)
Chuck points out that nuclear waste is tiny, much less than coal waste and claims that its managable and containable but doesn’t say how.
Look, I think nuclear power could be a good thing if it can be made safely and without long term environmental hazzards. However its going to pale in comparison to fusion reactors when that needed element is finally transported back to earth. Thats what you guys need to get behind – Fusion!
Anonmys-
Nope, no PhD here. Do you have one? If so, you design a fusion reactor, and I’ll help you lobby to build it! For now, we have a moderate-term fix so I think we ought to use it.
SMS
Sarah.
Assemblyman DeVore has been a champion of expanded nuclear energy for the past few years. While we all recognize the need to meet future power demand all of his efforts are blocked in Sacramento because he is a Republican. What a sad commentary for all those elected to serve the residents of California.
If anyone doubts my reply simply check out all of the Bills he has proposed on this topic.
Anonymous.
“Nuclear fusion.” Now we are showing our ages and discussing the Manhattan Project.
In my previous life I was a Working Group Chairman of an IEEE Standards activity. While there are scientists and professors who have great ideas, and may even be capable of producing prototype designs, moving into mass production is a different animal.
The following Abstract sounds good on a peer reviewed paper, however, where’s the product?
“Thermonuclear fusion of deuterium and tritium constitutes an enormous potential for a safe, environmentally compatible and sustainable energy supply. The fuel source is practically inexhaustible. Further, the safety prospects of a fusion reactor are quite favourable due to the inherently self-limiting fusion process, the limited radiologic toxicity and the passive cooling property. Among a small number of approaches, the concept of toroidal magnetic confinement of fusion plasmas has achieved most impressive scientific and technical progress towards energy release by thermonuclear burn of deuterium-tritium fuels. The status of thermonuclear fusion research activity world-wide is reviewed and present solutions to the complicated physical and technological problems are presented. These problems comprise plasma heating, confinement and exhaust of energy and particles, plasma stability, alpha particle heating, fusion reactor materials, reactor safety and environmental compatibility. The results and the high scientific level of this international research activity provide a sound basis for the realisation of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), whose goal is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of a fusion energy source for peaceful purposes.”
Sorry folks but how did we shift gears from “outsourcing” editorial work of our local newspaper to nuclear energy is beyond words.
Larry –
It’s because someone brought up the outsourcing of nuclear waste disposal.
SMS
#13 the containment problem is what using this solar dust as fuel will fix.