This morning I peruse the NYT. An article catches me. Law firms exporting their work to India. Work traditionally done by "grunt lawyers" here in the U.S., now done by a roomful of legal minds in India who get paid a fraction of the money previously paid to the "grunt lawyers" in the States. Those "grunt lawyers" -- in the States -- now seeking work at other firms, displacing others, on down the line. Until, at the end of that line, are those who now cannot find work. NAFTA as it applies to the legal field. (I think it is safe to say this concept is or will be applied in every field.)
If it is cheaper to get the work done by people out of country, "Let's do it!" With enthusiasm! More money for those entities that can afford to do it. These entities , (tech companies, law firms, manufacturers, etc.), with resources to hire cheaper workers in other countries, increase their profits and get larger, as they charge less for the services offered (based on cheaper production costs). The places that either choose not to take jobs away from neighbors in the next town or can't do so, might manage to survive. Or more likely, go under. One by one. Box stores eating up the family store. More jobs...gone....
Greed.
It is no longer about taking care of your country, your neighbor, your municipality (with the taxes for services). It is about making more money. Bigger cars. Fatter steaks. More boats. More plantings on the estate. No need to care about anyone else if your own place is secure.
I don't care about anyone else's greed. Well, that's not true. I do care about it. I find it rather repulsive. But in the long view, it is not up to me to judge. I do care, however, when greed means that there are no legal jobs for me because instead of forging a career and playing golf and striving for the ladder, I was also having children, and so my position falls far below "grunt lawyers." I do care because hundreds of thousands of attorneys and toilet scrubbers and gas station attendants and librarians and electricians and teachers and all of us are out of work.
And no one does a thing to stop to flow. The outflow. The trickle which has become a torrent....
