253 Innovation and outsourcing

In Thomas L. Friedman's column today in the Columbus Dispatch (here for the on-line version) he explains, through the eyes of an Indian woman, why outsourcing jobs is typical of America's innovative spirit. These are the characteristics that have made America great, he concludes:

extreme freedom of thought

emphasis on independent thinking

steady immigration of new minds

risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying and failing

financial markets and venture capital system that is unrivaled at taking new ideas and making new products.

Bangalore, he writes, has a lot of engineering schools, but the local government is corrupt, half the city has no sidewalks, there are constant black-outs, the rivers are choked with pollution, the public schools are dysfunctional, the street beggars constantly cause a traffic grid-lock, and the infrastructure is falling apart.

Mindless protectionism will end all that, he says. Yet, everytime I hear the media tell one more whiney story about jobs being exported, that seems to be what they are promoting--let's build a big fence around our borders and protect our unions and our manufacturing and computer jobs.