"What a Stud!"
Those were the exact words my wife used when she heard about Bush's surprise trip to Iraq (I would like to say those words were also used later in another context, but with the mother-in-law in town...).

While Mrs. Director may be biased, I think her reaction was probably similar to millions of Americans and even non-Americans when they heard the news. I thought it was pretty cool myself.

Ofcourse, the America-hating Dean supporters were quick to denounce it.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:49 AM (Permalink)
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Military Honors for a Civilian Casualty?
If this article from Drudge is to be believed, well it's pretty unbelievable (and I usually take Drudge with a grain of salt until confirmed elsewhere).

Dean's brother and an Australian friend trekked into Laos as civilians -- and were captured by the Vietcong and killed.

Okay, that's pretty horrible. Two innocent civilians captured and killed by a communist regime. And in the wake of the Vietnam War's ending, the U.S. government was pretty impotent to do anything about it (just try pulling that kind of crap under our present President - you may have dead civilians, but you would end up with dead perpetrators).

His brother will receive full military honors...flag over the coffin and all!" fumes one soldier, who asked not to be named.

So some anti-war protester graduates from college and decides to see the world as a tourist and gets himself killed - and he gets a MILITARY burial?! He didn't die defending his country. He died as a tourist!

This is an insult to the men and women who die in uniform for this country. To give this sort of honor to a tourist just because his brother is a visible politician is just ridiculous (if I were killed in some foreign land by Al Queda, I would not expect nor want military honors - I am a civilian).

The article also claims that returning and identifying Dean's brother's remains were expedited over others due to political pressure. I don't doubt this at all - what's the point of being a politician like Dean if you can't bring political favors to yourself and family over the military men and women whom you hold in contempt?

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:06 PM (Permalink)
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Another Job Lead?
I don't know about you, but I think this whole "jobless recovery" mantra is going to bite the dust - at least based on my personal experience.

I walk into the house in the late afternoon before a long weekend to catch an HR manager from a major tech company leaving me a voice mail. I pick up the phone in the middle of her message to talk to her and find out that they want to talk to me about a job. A little more exploring reveals the job is probably one rung too low, but I am going to go ahead and talk to the hiring manager next week (network! network!).

This is like the fourth unsolicited job lead in six weeks. While none of the leads are knocking my socks off (the dream: "Director Mitch, we would like you to come run our company for a gazillion dollars"), I do think they point to an increase in hiring. The employment numbers will tell the whole story, but I think they will keep going down in the coming months.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 4:29 PM (Permalink)
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Blogging Light to Non-Existent During T-Day Weekend
Got the mother-in-law coming into town, month-end closing at work and other general craziness, so blogging will be sparse - if at all - until normalcy returns on Monday.

Before going, I will note that my article below on Outsourcing did NOT make Instapundit's outsourcing round-up (sniff).

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:06 AM (Permalink)
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The Outsourcing Hot Rail
So we have a hot economy. Consumer confidence is way up. Unemployment has started to drop - it is down to 6.0% from 6.2% a few months ago, and will continue to drop, passing below the 6% barrier before 2Q04, and will probably be in the mid 5s by late next year.

So everyone should by happy, right?

You would think so, but there is an emotional minority that is all torn up about corporate "outsourcing". This is the situation where a company either subcontracts work overseas, or sets up its own overseas subsidiary to employ foreign workers at a fraction of the cost of U.S. workers. The two big areas that are getting a lot of press are manufacturing outsourcing to China (which has been going on for decades to the Far East) and call-center outsourcing to India (call-center outsourcing started happening a decade ago to Ireland, but didn't get a lot of negative press until it started going to India, so there is definitely a tinge of racism with the current anti-outsourcers).

In manufacturing, the fact of the matter is that the since WWII, manufacturing has fallen from nearly half of GDP to less than 30% and will continue to drop. Manufacturing outsourcing has been going on for decades and will continue as our economy matures.




For call-center outsourcing, the cost benefits are obvious: hire some PC tech guy in India for something like $8K a year versus a guy in the States for $35K a year (the "fully loaded" number is probably at least $40K if you include the corporate part of his social security/Medicare and some minimum health benefit). Even with the extra cost of long distance, internet connection, etc., the guy in India is a savings of 10s of thousands of dollars per year. Add that up across 100s or even 1000s or workers, and we're talking real money.

This outsourcing makes a lot of sense to some companies - costs can be passed to the consumer in the form of cheaper products (like Dell), or simply add to the profits to the company, which is good for shareholders.

But there are definitely companies jumping on the outsourcing bandwagon without thinking through all of the costs and ramifications: higher legal expenses, logistical problems, and even upsetting your customers.

In some of these cases, the company has reversed course, bringing back at least part of the outsourced area back to the States (like Dell).

This is why the whole negative focus on outsourcing is a bit extreme. Outsourcing is just one tool in a company's arsenal to control costs. It will make sense in some situations, but not all, and with a bit of stumbling and trial and error, companies will find the right mix for their particular market segment.

But the bottom line is this: outsourcing is here to stay. The world is leveling - workers here will have to compete with workers elsewhere. In the case of call centers, nothing is being "exported" or "imported", except knowledge - and the internet and communications has made communicating between two people in the world simple and practically free.

There is really nothing the anti-outsouring people can do: the government can't pass laws to turn off international phone lines and the internet. People aren't going to stop scooping up cheaply made goods from China at their nearest Walmart, or stop buying $500 PCs this Christmas from Dell in favor of the $1500 version from a more expensive manufacturer.

If the anti-outsourcing crowd really wants to do something, they can try to fill the domestic jobs we do have that can't be filled. There is a shortage of nurses - estimated at nearly half a million by 2007 - and these high-paying jobs can't be outsourced to India. Quit crying about the jobs that are being outsourced that you can't do anything about, and do something about the shortage of jobs we do have here in the U.S. which are begging for people.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 4:25 PM (Permalink)
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New Cross Link
Business Pundit added me to his blog roll. I read him about once a week and occasionally post in his comment section. While my postings on business are usually from the "inside looking out" (a look at internal politics, how marketing managers work, etc.), most of his postings are from the outside looking in (commentary on a Bill Gates interview, for example). He also has far fewer political postings than I do, keeping his blog almost completely business focused, where mine has entries on anything that crosses my mind.

He's a good read if you want a general business round-up and has been added to my links to the right.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 10:29 AM (Permalink)
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Economic Benefits of Voting Republican
A good week for my pocketbook thanks to two republican administrations:

Federal - I got my $400 check for the increase in the child tax credit. Essentially this is an early "tax refund" (yes, yes, the feds giving you your money back is not a refund, but that's what everyone calls it). So while this is simply reducing the amount of my refund in April, I am not complaining about getting it now, essentially since it went right back out into the economy to buy a Christmas present for Mrs. Director (and since she occasionally pings this site, I can't say what it is).

State - I got my bill for the car tax, due in January. Since the computers were not updated when this was printed, the "old" rate (i.e. Gray Davis increase) is what was listed on the bill: about $350. I went to the handy-dandy Caleeefornea DMV tax reduction calculator, which gave me the amount of my new (Ahnold reduction) tax bill: about $150, so a savings of $200.

So thanks to two republicans, I have $600 of additional wealth this week! (although the government taking away less of my money isn't exactly the same as increasing my wealth).

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:47 AM (Permalink)
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Can They Admit it Yet?
I understand politics has a lot of positioning and, well, politicking. But I am just tired of hearing the sound bites from the democratic nominees how "Iraq is just about keeping American's minds off our poor economy" and how "Tax cuts are hurting the economy".

Can they at least admit the economy is roaring back?

U.S. GDP Grows at 8.2% Pace in 3Q
The Commerce Department this morning announced that the economy grew at an astounding 8.2 percent in the third quarter of this year the fastest pace in nearly two decades and higher than previously reported. Thanks in large part to the President's pro-growth policies and tax relief, the economy is poised for sustained growth:

The 8.2 percent growth rate more than double the 3.3 percent pace registered in the second quarter represented the best showing since the first quarter of 1984, when the economy surged at a 9 percent pace. Economists were predicting third-quarter GDP would be revised up, with estimates ranging from a 7.3 percent pace to an 8 percent pace.

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:03 AM (Permalink)
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Fan Mail Question and Answer
Okay, not REALLY fans, but I get a few emails from fellow bloggers out there and I thought some of the questions and comments would make a good blog entry, as well as provide some advertising for these bloggers.

Our first letter is from north of the border - no, not Oregon - Canada. Timothy, at Recursive Progress and I have had some email exchanges about Canadians and Americans, business and other issues (and he has a great posting on remembering people's names when you meet them). Tim and I are different in both nationality and political preferences, but we have had some great conversations. Here are a few of his questions:

Timothy: What part of CA are you in?
Mitch: I am in Orange County, which is about half-way between San Diego and Los Angeles. The area is considered the home of California conservatism - a sort of anti-San Francisco. Note that NO ONE I know has EVER called this area The OC- I have NO idea where those boneheads in LA who write this show came up with that terminology.

Timothy: You come across a little bit like a younger (and more techie) Stanley Bing
Mitch: Thanks! That is actually one of the writers I am shooting to emulate in my business entries. I didn't read him when he was in Esquire, but I am familiar with him from Fortune (which is about the only reason to buy that magazine).

Timothy: How have the people who've taken your career advice done so far?
Mitch: Tim is referring to this post, where I dispensed career advice to two young associates in my office.

Lisa hasn't taken my advice. She seems to be one of these young people who is bright, engaging and intelligent, but just can't seem to focus on setting and completing career goals. She seems a bit focused on her personal life right now, so it could be that her goal of beating the biological clock could be preventing her from focusing on her career (I have also given her advice on husband hunting, but I won't go into that here).

Elliott has taken my advice and is going for the MBA next fall, but needs to be a bit more careful. I have heard complaints from two of his subordinates that he is studying for the GMAT during work hours (remember, blogging looks like working, but having a GMAT book sitting out on your desk is pretty damning). He needs to move to some sort of on-line studying so it's not as obvious.

Timothy: (since you are in marketing), what was your route there from engineering? Strictly post-MBA?
Mitch: Actually, no. I entered into marketing straight out of undergraduate engineering. My series of senior labs convinced me I had no desire to be an engineer, even if fellow blogger Jim Carson was one of my labbies for two, or was it three, classes. (Jim? I can't remember, but I think you were my labby for Pascal, Fortran and that damn self-paced course - MASC223? - which I didn't start until the final week)

So when I interviewed, I kept to this message: "Although I have an engineering degree, I really want to work on the business side of things." It worked. Several large semiconductor companies offered me jobs in their marketing departments, and I accepted one of them. I got my MBA while working full time at this first company.

Timothy: what's your economy like in CA? in the tech sector. What's big and exciting these days
Mitch: Actually did a posting on this when my blog was just getting going. Long story short, my area of the tech market is REALLY looking good. 4Q03 is up and we have customers panicking about shortages, so they are bidding up and locking in prices. 2004 looks like a great year for us. For new markets I am looking at, I did a post here.


I plan to blog later on some items Tim and I are discussing, including Canada vs. U.S. "culture", tech outsourcing and other issues.


The next letter is from Another Rice Grad, who I gave advice to here about quitting his job.

As an update, he did quit, so more power to him. He is going to find work that matters to him, even if that means going and volunteering during this year's presidential election. It won't bring riches, but it will bring fulfillment.

Rice Grad: CES (Consumer Electronics Show) sounds kinda sounds fun. How much is registration? If I'm still unemployed in January, I might go.
Mitch: CES is free if all you're doing is walking the floor. The web site is currently down, but when it recovers you would register for free at www.cesweb.org. I actually recommend doing it at least once. It's a fun show and you will definitely find it worth while if you are at all into electronics.

Maybe there could be some sort of blogger's meeting there???



posted by Director_Mitch @ 3:12 PM (Permalink)
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Window Manager In Carnival, BFL Roundup
This blog, if not the same authors, are listed in two roundups:

Carnival of the Capitalists - Rorschach's write up on Product Definition made it into this week's round-up of business and economic blog entries.

Bear Flag Review - For those of you who would like to read all the Bear Flag bloggers, but don't have the time, Patterico has a summary of the BFL blogs for the week.

Blogging will be light today as I am running errands for the upcoming Thanksgiving visit of the Mother-in-Law...

posted by Director_Mitch @ 9:38 AM (Permalink)
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