Globalization. A word unheard of just a few years ago, but a word that today, has come to mean to many, "Oh no, our corporate jobs are being moved out of America".
It should not come as a shock to people. The demographic changes have been described quiet accurately in several excellent books during the past 15 years, in an effort by the authors to "alert" Americans and American Educational Systems, that it was time to prepare for the demographic changes that needed to be personally addressed immediately.
I first became aware of the future demographic changes, while reading Live Rich (1998) and Die Poor (1997), written by Stephen Pollan & Mark Levine, and more recently, The World Is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, written in 2005.
In most of the presentations made by Alan Greenspan to Congress, during that period, he was constantly asked "What should we do?" and each time he said, "Go back to school and update your education for the jobs that will be replacing the present jobs in America".
Had people been listening then, that realization should have become the focus at the forefront of all educational programs throughout America and the world.
Sadly, in 2008, America will graduate 30,000 Engineers from it's Universities and Colleges, while China and India will graduate 800,000 engineers from their Universities and Colleges - EACH!
And today, America in now importing medical professionals and technically proficient workers from outside the United States, to fill jobs that require specialized educational and technical expertise, because Americans chose not to become medical professionals, although it is quiet well known that 80,000,000 Baby Boomers are on the verge of retiring and will inevitably be faced with medical problems in the future.
Throughout history, technological advancements not only have enhanced lifestyles of people throughout the world, but those same technological advancements, make past jobs obsolete, and require the workers of the world to continually learn new technology.
It's called "change" and with change, people must adapt, or like the trappers and mountain men of America's past, fade into history. There is really nothing new in that observation.
The mountain men of America, who survived by trapping and providing beaver pelts to hat manufacturers to accommodate the once prominant fad of Europeans, Beaver Hats for many years, one day discovered that the Beaver Hat fad, has passed into eternity, just as quickly as it had begun.
The world and everything in the world, is in a constant state of "change", and if one is going to continue to thrive, they must continually seek new knowledge and understading of technology.
Corporations, in order to survive and keep people employed, are forced to build their products for sale at the lowest prices they can, which means building their products in countries where the cost of service or manufacturing is less expensive.
Globalization has occurred and will continue to expand its effect upon the world.
So what is the point I'm making?
Education must be a continually ongoing experience, whether it is gained in universities or from the now prolific internet or from educational materials than can be acquired at little or no cost to the person who wants to learn something that might be beneficial to their futures, for example, when I knew that retirement was like a living death to me, I had to "Un-Retire" and learn something that I had little or no knowledge of, which is now, Short-Term Trading Of The Global Equity Markets.
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