Go East, Young Man!

(NYC) Editor of the Daily Beast, Tina Brown, is on record as advising young journalists to "go to work in India" because opportunities in the U.S. are at a "transitional moment."

Former NBC anchorman Tom Brokaw also advised young journalists to leave home. "I'd be looking to see what the chances are of getting a job in the Middle East, for example. Or in India."


 
Tina Brown -- Tom Brokaw
So, according to two media notables, if you want a job, "Go East!" (to India or the Middle East). Apologies to the ghost of Horace Greeley.

It could be argued that people leaving the U.S. to find jobs is 'outsourcing by default,' a bit different from the conventional understanding of outsourcing as jobs taken away from American workers and replaced by workers in another country. We aren't losing jobs to another country, we're losing workers.

Also arguable is that a similar circumstance, to a much greater degree, helped prompt the leadership of East Germany to build the Berlin Wall. Before the wall, Berlin was the route for teachers, technicians, skilled craftsmen and others to escape from misery behind the Iron Curtain. And, they did, in large numbers.

The point is that if the chances to pursue happiness are greater in a foreign nation, people will leave their homeland to take advantage of the opportunities. America, the recognized "Land of Opportunity" is not hiring. Go elsewhere.

Realistically, I don't ever foresee the U.S. becoming like the failed state of East Germany but I do see a disturbing trend. When was the last time anyone heard prominent Americans tell professional people that if they want jobs, get out of the United States? I know of no previous instance.