Homestead mailing list

["clanSkeen" <sgian AT planetc.com>]

> Floyd County in sw Virginia used to have 3 apparel manufacturing plants 
> (perhaps 4--I might be off). Now there's just one and it's barely holding 
> on. I guess it's the same story everywhere. Two of the plants been a 
> struggle for those who used to be employed at the plant. One of the vacant 
> buildings was recently sold.

Here, not so very far from Floyd County, the greater county area had 20,000 
garment jobs.  'Cozy-Dozy' infants wear was one national brand.  Now there 
are about 40 jobs left at Pointer Brand Coveralls because the owners son 
started selling the garments on the internet directly to consumers - that 
saved 40 jobs out of 230 they once employed.  All the rest are gone.  Just 
to the east of here in the TN/NC border there used to be about 20 furniture 
manufaturers.  Now there are none.  All the hardwood is shipped overseas to 
furniture factories there.

Who didn't see this coming:  in an outfit I recently worked for almost every 
high level IT person is nervous as a cat eyeing the Sword of Damocles - all 
the equipment - all of it - is HP and HP has offered to do ALL the support 
off site and overseas eliminating the entire need for any IT personnel at 
all.  I'd have to install a larger hard drive if I'd saved every post on 
every list where people five and ten years ago staked their financial future 
on the mistaken notion that "You don't understand they will ALWAYS need 
people like me, no matter what happens."  The last couple of years if an IBM 
thinkpad fouled up, the instructions were to throw it away and another one 
correctly configured would be shipped to the looser - eh, I mean, user. 
Training?  All done by powerpoint presentations over the WAN and supported 
in Brazil or India.

James