globalization and product design

I listened to Fresh Air on NPR today. Terri Gross interviewed a woman who was an international correspondent for some newspaper to India and China. She noted how globalization has created immense wealth in these two countries and how that affects job security in America.

She used the ipod to illustrate the point. She claims that the idea for the "chip" or "brains" of the ipod was developed in a shack in Hyderabad(sp?). Further, the development of the ipod is contracted to Taiwanese and Chinese manufacturers. Then the products are sent to America, where they are marketed and sold. Apple being the brand associated with the Ipod gets the lion's share of profits. However, engineers, accountants, creatives, etc can output the "same quality" of work for tenth of the price of an American engineer.

This is an interesting point. Since in the last 20 years, America's manufacturing industry has certainly collapsed. We have since reshaped ourselves into a service economy, but with the export of white collar jobs as well, the job security of most Americans continue to diminish, and thus the job security of everyone in general.

This makes me think of Snow Crash where in the future, the only things America is good at are: entertainment, pizza, and software. Indeed, it seems those remain to be the few remaining exports we have to offer.