bustardblog

Oily Tom

'Not to Worry, Mr Friedman." " Please - whatever you are selling I am not buying."

Tom Friedman's Op-Ed in today's NY Times is just ridiculous. He claims that outsourcing is over because a U.S. company no longer just outsources from its domestic headquarters to another country. Now, he is excited to announce, those places to which we outsource, are also now outsourcing! How this adds one job to the U.S. economy is not discussed. There may be an interesting conversation to be had about how middle-class America's loss is a gain for poverty stricken third world nations, but Friedman prefers to dance around it, rather than to engage in it.

Of special note is how thrilled Friedman is by a new program, one of 'outsourcing'  the processing of employee records from large cities in India to villages. Gleefully he writes how "the outsourcee has become the outsourcer." His enthusiasm is boundless when he  quotes the Indian entrepreneur who initiated the experimental program as saying how low the attrition rate is. The experiment began with "two villages a year ago." 

Low employee attrition?  Where themost senior employee has been on the job no more than a year?

Is Friedman simply a snake oil salesman?

Bush's Energy

Two strutters in Stetsons, Texans, two oil professionals named Ken Lay and George Bush have both been speaking about oil and money in the last couple of days.
Mr. Lay is no longer talking energy policy with Dick Cheney in secret.  He's not even talking about how his company made gazillions off of California's manipulated energy crisis. (which helped make Schwarzenegger Governor) He is talking about his faith in God, and about his wife of 24 years.
In California the other day, Mr. Bush also spoke about his wonderful wife, Laura, and his faith in the Almighty.
These oil guys have a lot in common.
It is worth remembering that the price of oil when that first oil man - George H.W. Bush -  took office was just under $22.00 (Jan 1989 price was $13.58, then I adjusted for inflation) - under George W. Bush the price has hit $75.00 per barrel. (See how two oil men are better than one!)
Today, W. announced plans to manipulate the Strategic Oil Reserves and to suspend some pollution controls for oil refineries. (Who could have predicted whether or not there might be a need for additional refineries?, he asks)
Suspending pollution controls is like Mother's Milk to W. A no-brainer.
After Katrina, W. suspended lots of pollution regulations - in St. Louis the air quickly became brown, not blue.  But playing with the oil reserves is special.
In fact, the WaPo noted that "The president (W.) believes that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should be used only in the event of an emergency, not to manipulate prices." said White House spokeman Trent Duffy. It should be noted that Bush excorirated Bill Clinton for using the reserve..."
Courageous Cheetoh lovers like Jonah Goldberg wrote of the Reserve" "it was established to stockpile oil in case of a "severe energy supply distribution," like war. . ."
But now that Bush wants to use it for purely political purposes...

P.S. Atrios has a great video of Nancy Pelosi commenting on Bush's energy policy:
Here's a part of the transcript

Mr President please, separate "yourself from your patron, big oil, cut yourself off from that anvil holding your party down and this country down, instead of coming to Washington and throwing your Republican colleagues under the wheels of the train, which they mightily deserve for being a rubber stamp for your obscene, corrupt policy of ripping off the American people."

You have to see it in order to hear her perky,polite closure, in which she thanks the audience for listening.  It's perfect.