Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[Jason Laughlin <jason AT jasonlaughlin.com>]

At 10:33 PM 1/30/2003 -0500, you wrote:
> I really don't think either goods/services or the cost of living will go
> down. I just think the divide between the classes will continue to expand.
> I believe history teaches us that this is when revolution happens.

Unless you're French, in which case you can just go on strike again.

Come on people, one of the few things that both Adam Smith and Karl Marx 
agreed on is that the free movement of capital AND labor was a very good 
thing -- important to market efficiency and to the happiness of the 
workers.  Sure there's some stickiness in the markets and we can't all move 
to the "next thing" as easily as we'd like, but ultimately the 
routine/drudge work gets either automated (by us) or passed off to other 
workers (interns, recent college grads, or, GASP, foreign workers) so that 
we can focus on the jobs that we are best at and exchange the money/goods 
earned for what someone else is good at.  It's called comparative 
advantage, and protectionism works against it by subsidizing work that is 
no longer being done well/efficiently.  Of course, if you don't want to do 
a new job, then you can follow your old job to the new country and hope 
that you can keep your old salary.  I've long believed that the best 
arrangement possible would be to earn a US salary while living in a 3rd 
world economy (my father was in diplomatic/military service abroad, so I 
know this works well). I'd be more tempted to do it if I weren't 
broadband-addicted.

Jason