Usually the last thing in the world I would ever write about is corporate America.  I tend to lean a little more to the left than the average American and my dislike for corporations is pretty high.

This week I discovered something that really opened my eyes and made me realize it isn't corporate America that is totally to blame for the economic hardships our children are going to have to endure for a few years until the world finds a sense of economic balance.  We envision outsourcing as something the big corporations are doing by moving their call centers to countries where labor is ultra cheap and employees can barely speak English.  We think of the corporations as the bad guys.

I am certainly not going to come to their defense, but what I discovered this past week was a small a businessperson named John Jonas who is maybe 35 years old and made over two million dollar over the last four years working 4-20 hours per week managing his six employees all of which work from their homes . . . in the Philippines.  All of his employees have a minimum of bachelors degrees and he pays them anywhere from $250 to $600 a month.

Now I know this is the kind of subject it is easy to yawn about, pour another cup of Folgers, turn up the volume on Regis and Kelly and not think much about.  I would like that because I have a big reason to want to ignore it.The reason I was listening to this conversation was because I was being taught over the internet how to hire my first foreign worker to help me out of a jam because I getting so far behind in projects I had begun last fall I had to have some assistance and I could not even get anyone to talk to me in Irene, TX.. 

John Jonas calls attention to a computer database of over 1,500 graduate English speaking highly qualified applicants who have their resumes on file and are ready to put in 40 hours a week of quality performance for what would come to (after tax savings) about $2.00 per hour.  I am following along as he points out a few of these applicants.He reiterates that $400 a month is a good middle class income in that area of the Philippines.  (which is what one applicant with nine years experience as a computer programmer in six different languages is asking).  In the US you would have to tack another zero on that figure.

Since the day I first listened to Jonas I have contracted with his company to train me to get me ready to manage a Philippiine worker who lives exactly half way around the world.  Even though he or she will be working for me full time there is a good chance we will never meet face to face.  As far as world time goes we will live exactly 12 hours apart.  Most of our communication will take place by instant messenger when live communication is necessary, but most of the time tasks will be assigned and reports will be filed electronically at the end of each day.  When visual communication is needed Jonas recommends a free web based program called Jing.

Jonas is very professional at this and I am developing a training program for the employee I hire according to his proven criteria.  He even has a virtual office designed from his personal experience that makes you feel like you are working in the same building, not on opposite sides of the world.  Reporting procedures will be established in advance.  All the little details will be covered.

Still, I have to look in the mirror and think about what I am getting ready to do.  Just a few weeks ago I would never have thought I would be hiring a foreign worker.  However, there was nobody else to hire.The closest town where there was a willing worker (maybe) was about 20 miles away, I didn't have a public office, I would have had employee benefits to deal with and it would have been so expensive I would not have been able to hire anyone.

This way I will soon be able to get back to writing more and playing with Buford.  I guess I will just have to put in some earplugs to drown out the screams of my grandchildren, because just like water always seeks to find its own level . . . money will seek to find common and true value.  Perhaps in a few years it will cost $1500 a month on average both in the Philippines and US for a commonly skilled worker, but right now it is more like $400 vs $4000 and until value finds parity in that equation our kids and their kids are going to have it rough.

They will have to pay the price of the social, political and economical mistakes of their forefathers.