Richard Tallent Thinks Americans Aren't Smart Enough Anymore

In response to my comments on offshoring, Richard Tallent writes:

“Here's the issue: if we give away our best industries, we will not have anything *left* to export, except maybe lawsuits, Big Macs, and beaurocracy.

There *is* a difference between a factory worker and a software developer. The former rarely creates innovation on his own, but the latter (if he is good) does so regularly. We shouldn't protect every factory and farm, but we *must* protect young growth industries. Necessity is the mother of invention. If we aren't doing those jobs, we won't start those next Microsofts, we won't invent those new inventions. If we don't want to take the back seat in the next few decades of innovation, we must draw a line in the sand that protects the incentive for our children to work in fields such as engineering and computer science. “ [1]

There was a time when engineering and building automobiles was cutting edge, and the US had no problems staying at the forefront then without a million more laws being written banning the import of foreign goods or the outsourcing of labor. I get sick and tired of hearing people complain that the US just isn't smart enough to compete any more. If we truely aren't smart enough any more then there are plenty of better things to focus on, like improvements to our downward spiraling education system. If things just cost too much out here, then maybe we need to get rid of some tax burdens and do something about the littigations that are costing some of our most successfull and innovative companies millions of dollars a year in lost revenue and sales. Maybe we need to redefine what innovation is in the 21st century so that someone can't file a patents for every process they can dream up and milk the revenues of companies that are actually doing something. And maybe, just maybe, we need to stop acting like a bunch of babbies, go out there, and start kicking foreign ass with truely innovative American solutions. Solutions that make the few dollars and hour in cost savings irrelevant. Oh.. but no... we don't want to innovate. Better tools might make it easy for the average person to develop software and cost us highly trained developers our jobs. Let's just make laws against innovation and protect those jobs while we still can!

[1] http://www.tallent.us/PermaLink.aspx?guid=24150d52-d592-4627-b4cf-3c8ce1a89d7c

 

6 Comments

  • Laws have proven 1 thing in the past: they don't work. I would much rather try to match wits than try to match salaries. Unfortunately that does mean some lost jobs, but the country ends up better off.

  • read Neal Stephenson...eg diamond age, you'll enjoy it

  • I think a major point is being missed in the discussion of outsourcing tech jobs to offshore locations. The main objection is not necessarily the fact that certain jobs may leave the U.S. (this has been happening in other industries for decades), rather, it is in the current tax incentives to corporations which make this activity very beneficial to a limited set of strong corporations. Of course there should be no laws that restrict where a company can be located, but the idea that the U.S. government/people are, in effect, subsidizing that behavior is inherently wrong.

  • Sometimes I like to read between the lines of an argument to pick up the tone and attitude of the writer. I find that you can find out really quick who interested in a good discussion and who may be just defensive and will never give up his/her point....



    So far, I have gathered that Richard Tallent has some well thought out arguments and is *not* destructively critical of people with opposing views. However, Jesse Ezell is quite the opposite, and that is why i titled this post what I did. This whiny rant that built on assumptions and builds new assumptions is just annoying to read. Yes, he definitely brings up good points, which Richard affirmed.... but it is done in such a crybaby manner: "I get sick and tired of hearing people complain that the US just isn't smart enough to compete any more." Sick and tired? First, he thinks he heard it from Richard, but I read all of Richard's stuff... he did not say that. Or how about, "And maybe, just maybe, we need to stop acting like a bunch of babbies, go out there, and start kicking foreign ass with truely innovative American solutions." Bunch of babbies? Who? And will innovative American solutions automagically fix the offshoring trend? I think there are much deeper economical issues to be addressed than just who has the best product/solution.



    Anyway, I read all of Jesse's stuff and Richard's stuff and had to post this, cuz Jesse's post just annoyed me. What is funny is that I had to read Richard's post to even realize the 'good points' that Jesse made. I read slashdot once in a blue moon too and listening to people whine about stuff is just annoying. It is like Microsoft vs. Linux or Java vs. .Net or fill in other historical heated debate.... This is just technology, but people act like the destination of their soul is dependent on their point of view...... Maybe one day these immature techies will push their way through their empty mountain dew cans to sunlight and start to grow up.


  • I think Americans have severe emotional and egotistical problems that create severe learning disabilities, and when an American lacks eductaion, he or she likes to make up for it with bullying, and both psychological and physical abuse. This is the society we live in.
    I will hate my country until it attempts to fix itself!

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