India Losing Call-Centers Due To High Wages?

     Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor     Tue Oct 18, 2011

Call centers leave India as American companies look for cheaper labor

Congratulations to India, where labor and business costs have risen enough that American companies are transferring their call-center work elsewhere:

Some Indian companies have tried to adjust by hiring less-expensive workers from small Indian towns or switching to high-end back-office work, including paralegal services, accounting and education.

But in the past three years, 13 Indian call-center companies have set up large offices in the Philippines and have trained and hired local workers, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies.

“The growth in the Philippines is also being driven, to a large extent, by Indian outsourcing companies that are setting up operations there,” said Sangeeta Gupta, the association’s senior vice president.

Call-center work for Indian companies, like that "high-end back-office work," is still located in India. At least until the never-ending race to the bottom sends much of that to the Philippines, too. But when that happens, India should take heart in the fact that the U.S., after losing so many jobs to cheaper labor elsewhere, eventually itself became a source of cheap labor and got some jobs back.

Originally posted to Daily Kos Labor on Tue Oct 18, 2011

Also republished by Class Warfare Newsletter: WallStreet VS the Working Class Occupy movement. and Daily Kos.

Technorati Tags: Outsourcing,Labor,India,The Philippines,Current Events,An American Gothic,Employment

“We the People Are Here”

  I get a real kick out of reading the various reporting that is done by the journalist from across the ocean, because they don’t make their stories up, they go to them.

Resourced From Watching America

die Tageszeitung, Germany
“Oh, Sh*t. We the People Are Here”

By Dorothea Hahn
Translated By Ron Argentati
16 October 2011

Edited by Gillian Palmer

Germany - die Tageszeitung - Original Article (German)
It is day 27 of the occupation, and thousands again demonstrate in New York. To stay within the law, they stay on the sidewalks, but the police arrest 80 of them anyway.
The skies are a brilliant blue, the banners beyond imagination. The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators play by the rules and stay on the sidewalk, never venturing into the street. They stop for red lights, but the New York police can't leave well enough alone: On the day of international solidarity, they arrest over 80 demonstrators, including 24 of them at CitiBank. At noon, they had protested against CitiBank's evictions and other fraudulent practices.
Most of the other protesters end up that evening at Times Square, sitting in police vehicles with their hands cuffed behind their backs. Outside, others shout “Who does the park belong to?” and “The whole world is watching.” Meanwhile, more and more police in uniform arrive on horses and motorcycles. More shouts of “Who are you protecting, anyway?” Late that night, new tensions between police and the demonstrators develop.
According to the Occupy Wall Street movement's calendar, it is day 27. The protesters moved from their campgrounds to Liberty Plaza in the financial sector earlier that morning. They stopped at several banks, then moved on to Washington Square to join with thousands of students from the nearby university for a mass demonstration in the open.
“I'm Lorraine and I'm glad to be here,” says one young woman to the “human microphone” — her words are repeated from one demonstrator to the next until they reach the farthest edges of the crowd. Then Lorraine continues, “I've waited 20 years for this. Since Reagan.” Again, her words flow like an acoustic wave through the crowd.
A few meters further on, physicians and nurses from New York clinics assemble in their white uniforms. Using the human microphone, Doctor Steve Auerbach says that 45,000 people die each year “in the world's richest country” from lack of health insurance and that Obama's attempts moving healthcare away from a profit-based system and the Western world's most expensive medicines haven't improved the situation.
These medical personnel have been advocating for a basic reform of healthcare based on their motto, “Everybody In. Nobody Out.” They demand a unified public insurance program for all modeled on the systems in Canada and Taiwan. They have steadily gained an audience in the midst of occasional interruptions and noise from a diminishing tea party movement on the right.
In the late afternoon, several demonstration parades course through Manhattan. The goal is Times Square, a location with theaters and military recruiting offices, home of the bright neon lights. No parade route has been announced, but true to the letter of the law, the demonstrators stay on the sidewalks. The police form an impenetrable human chain separating the marchers from the street traffic. The dense crowds of marchers on both sides of the street raise their battle cry: “We are the 99 percent.” It's occasionally interspersed with shouts of "The banks got bailed out and we got sold out.”
In the midst of all the tumult, a guitar teacher protesting for the first time with the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators says that this is a slogan competition. Walking along, one sees further signs: “Stop socialism for the rich.” A man in his underpants carries a sign saying, “Unemployed naked cowboy.” Then someone holds a new sign aloft saying, “Welcome to reality.” How does that make him feel? “Happy,” the young man, a student from New Jersey, replies.

“The world will be what we make it.”
    For many, this global participation day marks their first experience with the movement. 57-year-old John Bird, who had watched it on television over the past few weeks, believes it's an opportunity for change and has written a banner stating “Native Americans for economic, social and ecological justice.” He quotes a Mayan calendar that extends only as far as the year 2012. In it, he sees an obligation. “The world that follows this one,” he says, “will be what we ourselves make it.”
Everyone believes that the Occupy Wall Street movement, threatened with eviction from the financial district yesterday, is something new for the U.S. and that it will continue to grow and develop new goals with each passing day. Paralegal Nathan Riedy from Pennsylvania says, “It's not about handouts, it's about fundamental issues.” He voted for Obama and says he will vote for him again. He won't protest against his president but says he's “part of the system.”
Cameron Kelly, a fitness studio owner from upstate New York, has spent several nights camped out in the park. She took part in anti-Vietnam War protests as a student, later demonstrating against other wars and for environmental issues. But the Occupy Wall Street movement is the first she feels is no longer about single issues nor trying to “educate” members of Congress. This, she says, is about “all or nothing.”
“These people understand something that we didn't realize. This is aimed directly at those who see war as a source of income and profit,” she says. She sees an example in a small, hostile neighboring country. She says Cuba is a poor country, yet education is free and its citizens pay nothing for their health care.

"Oh Sh*t. We the people are here."
    What will become of the Occupy Wall Street movement remains an open question. Four weeks after its inception, it is still in the process of taking stock and organizing its list of concerns and expectations. Becky Herman, a 24-year-old New Yorker, says she doesn't talk of a “lasting success.” Her banner demands a halt to military assistance to Israel and taxpayer funding for education and healthcare instead. Not many address that subject.
In front of the Times Square Chase Bank, a young man waves a banner reading “Banks Steal Homes.” Tourists take snapshots of the demonstrators from the upper levels of double-decker buses. A police officer shouts into a megaphone, “Clear the square!” Postal worker Eric Fernandez, 31, waits. For what? “I want everyone to see that I'm against laissez-faire capitalism,” he answers.
In the hubbub around him, Charlotte Souza watches the advancing line of policemen. The 23-year-old has been living in Liberty Plaza for two weeks. She quit her $5.80 per hour job as a kitchen helper. Her black leather jacket bears the slogan “Eat the rich” as well as a large U.S. flag. She says, “I can't understand how we allowed the gap between rich and poor to grow so ridiculously large.”
The police pushed the Occupy Everything crowd away from Times Square. When the square was again totally in the hands of the usual Saturday night visitors, all that was left was a sign lying on the ground. Its message: “Oh, Sh*t. We the people are here.”
   *Note: The quotes in this article, while accurately translated, could not be verified.

Technorati Tags: #OWS,Occupy Wall Street,Protesters.Times Square,CitiBank,NYPD,Current Events,An American Gothic,Wall Street

 

Michelle Malkin: Right-Wing Idiot At Large…

…. has been up to her usual right-wing propaganda, only as of late it has been the usual attack on the Occupy Wall Street protesters. So what’s new, right?

   While browsing the Internet early on Monday morning, I came across a website which had a featured article submitted by Malkin in which she was blasting the  “ protesters “  over the cost to the New York taxpayers for the cleanup of Zuccotti Park.

    According to Michelle, the NYC government officials estimate the cost of the one month visit to the park  to be in the area of $3.2 million in overtime to the police. She also makes it a habit to refer to the  “ protesters “ as “ aimless occupiers.”

   Later on down the line, Malkin makes a comparison between the  “ protesters “ and her favorite wing-nut group, the frauds of the Tea Party, making the claim that at least the Tea Baggers had filed for all of the permits required to be in the areas in which they held their meetings, and that the Tea Baggers paid for their own power.

  First off, Michelle, the Tea Baggers may have paid for their power usage, but do we really consider that as a big deal. Paying a power bill is fairly easy when your Tea Party is created and financed by folks such as the Koch brothers and their subsidiary groups. That would be right-wing groups like the fine politicians, lobbyist , and CEO’s who make up membership in American Legislative Exchange Council  ( ALEC ). Remember them? The ones who wish to take away all worker rights, benefits, and pay if they can make an extra dollar from doing so? You know, that top 1% that the  “ protesters “ are meeting about?

  Michelle Malkin on the protesters:

Their T-shirts and speeches glorify Marxist radicals Che Guevara, Emiliano Zapata and Chairman Mao. They lionize convicted death row cop killer Troy Davis and WikiLeaks collaborator Bradley Manning. They condemn "Nazi Bankers," Jews, Fox News, the American Legislative Exchange Council, Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker, the Koch family and the New York Police Department ("Pigs!"). They promote the illegal alien DREAM Act and 9/11 Trutherism.

They spout bumper-sticker profanities and inanities: "F**k banks." "Unf**k the world." "Fuuuuu*k." "Free education." "Smash nationalism." "People not profits."

They flash peace signs while celebrity supporter Roseanne Barr calls for beheading financial industry workers and fellow marchers call explicitly for "violent revolution" or for Obama to "Send SEAL Team 6" to Wall Street.

Then they huff and puff (preferably in a creepy uniform chant they call the "human microphone") that we just haven't taken the time to understand what they're all about -- as they hawk $20 "Eat the Rich" polo shirts and license their protest photos to Getty Images.

Viva la revolucion! Up with people! Stop the greed! (Cha-ching. Cha-ching.)

      I spent 3 days at Occupy Wall Street and not once did I hear anyone complaining about the Jews, and the only complaints concerning the NYPD were over their illegal tactics in trying to control the protesters. You remember the pepper spray incidents? Now, there may have been a few rowdy people who got carried away with their rhetoric, but those were the few. As for Fox News,Koch brothers, and Scott Walker, they picked the right people/groups to raise hell about.

   #OWS is selling t-shirts to help pay for the Wall Street visit. So what? At least the group has found ways to support their visit to the titans of fraud and corruption, which you cannot say about Michelle’s beloved Tea Party. #OWS solicits donations of cash and goods on Twitter? They are getting the things which they need by the truck load, so it would seem that they have plenty of support from around the country.

   I’d like to see the Tea Party groups try that tactic without the help of the Koch hoods, and the criminal corporations who pay their bills. The out-come would not be close. The Tea Party would be less than nothing within a week.

  Michelle Malkin, maybe you should try visiting the protesters for a few days at least, in order to get your story straight, if they can stand the smell of you for that long.

   The fact that you posted your article on Glenn Beck’s website ( The Blaze ) tells all that you prefer to live in the universe of the factually challenged right-wingnut commune.

Technorati Tags: Michelle Malkin,#OWS,Occupy Wall Street,Tea Party,ALEC,Koch Brothers,Current Events,An American Gothic

CNN Becoming The Next Fox News Channel

The Foxification Of CNN: New Management Pushes The Network Into Crazy Territory

 

In the fiercely competitive world of cable news, the players have been jockeying for position as they battle for viewers and advertisers. Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, each with their own models of programming, seek to gain scale and influence.

Fox News, we know, has established its place as the leader in right-wing advocacy and Republican PR. MSNBC, while not a full-fledged counter to Fox, has allotted a fair portion of its programming to more liberally leaning fare. But CNN, the innovator and one-time leader in cable news, has wavered between those poles emerging as somewhat of a journalistic mutant - neither left nor right nor neutral.

The past year, however, CNN has been attempting to fashion a more recognizable persona. The shift coincides with the promotion of Ken Jautz, formerly the president of CNN's sister network, HLN. At HLN Jautz successed in raising both ratings and revenue by turning the channel into a trashy TV tabloid reliant on celebrity gossip and characters like Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck (yes, Jautz gave Beck his first job on television).

Now presiding over CNN, Jautz has brought his brash and distinctively commercial style to the network that once aspired to be a model of journalistic integrity. He is employing the same sensationalist philosophy at CNN that brought him success at HLN, along with a decidedly conservative bent. In an interview he gave after his promotion was announced Jautz delivered a tribute to Fox News and a preview of what to expect from his tenure saying that he does not believe that "facts-only" programming will work. True to his word he has endeavored to give CNN a shiny Fox-like hue and assembled a team that shares his aversion to facts.

Here are some examples of the lowlights of the Jautz era at CNN:

First and foremost, Jautz brought Glenn Beck into the CNN family saying that "Glenn's style is self-deprecating, cordial...not confrontational." That sort of delusional analysis ought to have been a red flag that disqualified Jautz from running a news network.

2) Erick Erickson, the RedState blogger who once called Supreme Court Justice David Souter a Goat-f**king child molester, became a CNN political commentator. Since his hiring he has cheered the S&P's downgrading of the U.S. credit rating and agreed with Rick Perry that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.

3) CNN signed Dana Loesch, the editor of Andrew Breitbart's BigJournalism, to be a contributor. Loesch has alleged that President Obama "sided with terrorists," and she embraced the overt bigotry of notorious Islamaphobe Pamela Geller. Breitbart, of course is famous for promoting deceptively edited videos that smeared ACORN, NPR, Shirley Sherrod and even CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau. Loesch was hired by CNN after these events were widely known.

4) Jautz brought Erin Burnett over from CNBC. In her debut she broadcast a story that portrayed the protesters on Wall Street as unfocused neo-hippies that didn't understand the issues they were protesting. Burnett would have fit in well on the curvy couch of Fox & Friends where they routinely disparage the movement without ever addressing the substance of it.

5) CNN had the distinction of being the only network to air Michele Bachmann's Tea Party response to the State of the Union Address. Even Fox didn't think it was worthy of live coverage. The result is that CNN had two opposing viewpoints to the President's address, one from the GOP and one from the Tea Party which, of course, is just an affiliate of the GOP. We're still waiting for CNN to air a response from the Progressive Caucus or MoveOn.org.

6) Another new CNN political analyst is Will Cain, who CNN acquired from the ultra-conservative National Review. And if that credential isn't far enough out in right field, Cain just announced that he is joining Glenn Beck's web site, The Blaze.

7) CNN locked arms with the Tea Party to co-host a Republican presidential primary debate. By choosing Tea Party Express as their partner they embraced a dubious organization that was booted out of the Tea Party Federation due to the racist commentaries of a spokesman. It was also revealed that most of the funds raised from donations wound up in the coffers of Russo, Marsh, the Republican PR firm that founded Tea Party Express.

8) Former Fox News anchor and Bill O'Reilly fill-in, E.D. Hill, is now a CNN contributor. Hill was dumped by Fox after a segment that showed President Obama giving the First Lady a friendly fist bump and Hill called it a "terrorist fist jab."

So CNN is now employing Fox News rejects, Andrew Breitbart lieutenants, and Glenn Beck associates. They've entered into covenants with unscrupulous Tea Partyers. On the flip side, former CNN reporters Ed Henry and John Roberts are now comfortably ensconced at Fox News. The lines between CNN and Fox News are blurring to the point where the networks are becoming indistinguishable. And most of this occurred since Ken Jautz assumed the helm of CNN.

If there is one thing that American media doesn't need, it's another Fox News. The first one is already doing a stellar job of misinforming the public and advancing the agenda of the Republican Party. What's more, emulating Fox has done nothing for CNN's ratings. Why should it? Viewers who are in the market for dumbed-down histrionics, Democrat bashing, and a steady diet of right-wing falsehoods, already have a proven provider. Fox's audience has shown that they are not the least bit interested in looking for the remote that slipped under the sofa years ago. They don't even change the channel when their heroes are just a click down the dial.

Consequently, if CNN is gaining nothing from reshaping their editorial slant to mirror Fox, the only conclusion is that they are deliberately making a hard right turn because that is the direction they want to go. But this path has only resulted in their dropping to third place behind Fox and MSNBC. If CNN ever hopes to regain some of the luster of their glory days, they will need to differentiate themselves from Fox. They might want to take a stab at journalism. That would be novel in these days of advocacy tabloidism.

One more thing: This Friday News Corp is holding their annual shareholder's meeting in Los Angeles at the Fox Studios in West L.A. Rupert will be there. OccupyLA is planning on being there. It would be great if everyone else in L.A. plans to be there too.

By News Corpse | Sourced from DailyKos

Technorati Tags: CNN,Ken Jautz,HLN,Fox News,Glenn Beck,Erick Erickson,Dana Loesch,News Channels,Current Events,An American Gothic