Tuesday Open Thread

17
  by: Colorado Pols Tue December 4, 2012 at 4:04 PM MDT

“Falsehood is a perennial spring.”

–Edmund Burke


Full story: Tuesday Open Thread

17 Community Comments, Facebook Comments

  1. PitaPita says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 8:34 AM MDT

    WASHINGTON — Nearly two years after Wall Street waged a successful campaign to keep consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren from running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the incoming senator will be tapped to serve on the Banking Committee, according to four sources familiar with the situation. It’s a victory for progressives who battled to win her a seat on the panel that oversees the implementation of Dodd-Frank and other banking regulations.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

    Side note: If Obama backs off appointing Susan Rice because of pressure, I hope she takes a page out of Elizabeth’s book and runs for public office.

  2. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 8:17 PM MDT

    It’s not all of them. About 2/3s are truly gone, due to improved efficiencies. But a lot of the rest could come back – http://www.theatlantic.com/mag…

  3. Gray in Mountains says:
    Wed December 5, 2012 at 4:45 AM MDT

    with no one to talk to

  4. Gorky PulviczekG Pulviczek says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 9:44 AM MDT

    she divests herself of Keystone XL-related (and other dirty-energy related) stocks first.

    http://www.examiner.com/articl…

  5. Gorky PulviczekG Pulviczek says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 12:51 PM MDT

    Seems confirmed by “a source” http://thehill.com/blogs/on-th…

    If so, it is a spot of good news on a Tuesday morning.

  7. Diogenesdemar says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 1:37 PM MDT

    got the Senate seat and that assignment, but I can’t help wishing she had an evil twin sister who could be put in charge of the CFPB . . .

    I wonder if the Republicans would be willing to confirm her today to open that Senate seat back up?

  8. BlueCat says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 1:29 PM MDT

    Think Wall Street is wishing they hadn’t interfered? Now they have to deal with her as a very high profile, rising star Senator on a powerful committee. Boo hoo.

  9. Gorky PulviczekG Pulviczek says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 1:47 PM MDT

    Warren AFAIK has no Keystone XL-related stocks :-)

  10. Duke Coxdukeco1 says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 5:32 PM MDT

    They have created a monster…  heh, heh…

  11. parsingreality says:
    Tue December 4, 2012 at 8:32 PM MDT

    “The jobs are gone and they ain’t coming back.”

    Paraphrased.  Prescient.

    But I’m only saying that the old huge manufacturing base we had when I was a kid ain’t coming back.  But, apparently, the tide might be turning so that at least some are.

    I heard an interview with the prez of Carbonite. He said the company was very disappointed with the survey results of customers after they used their Indian tech support folks.  Carbonite brought their tech center to Maine, someplace (Lewiston?) that had nine universities in the area.

    Not only did the customer rating response go way up, the average call length went from twenty minutes to five.  

    “Wowsers.”  

    In my admittedly limited experience with Indian CS, I found that they absolutely MUST stick to the script and the sequencing.  ”Please check to make sure your computer is plugged in.”  When I talk to American support, and not just tech, it flows organically, they understand in short order we can jump past the power on questions.

    Although not manufacturing jobs, it seems to me that a lot of companies could follow in Carbonite’s footsteps.  Hey, Verizon, you listening?  Oh, doesn’t matter, I ditched you years ago.  Because of alleged CS.

  13. Gray in Mountains says:
    Wed December 5, 2012 at 4:55 AM MDT

    I’ve been watching you closely as well. Are you without underwear?

  15. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Wed December 5, 2012 at 12:11 PM MDT

    It’s always appeared to me to be a false saving. Hiring the occasional super star we find elsewhere, sure. But hiring a boatload of sub-standard programmers – no fucking way.

  16. parsingreality says:
    Wed December 5, 2012 at 7:26 PM MDT

    and I/we all thank you!

    I’m no expert on offshoring CS, but I’ve read in a number of places that the perceived savings are often eaten up with training, monitoring, and travel costs.

    I can see that maybe writing code in India might pay off – hey, Bill Gates ain’t no dummy – but dealing with American customers is radically different.  I think.

    I had a lost luggage issue with Continental about six years ago.  The CS people were right there in Houston, were genuinely helpful, and were no BS.  And no scripts.

    There is a reason we ALL prefer to interact and deal with people like ourselves.  Some are overt, some take thought as to why.

  17. DavidThi808DavidThi808 says:
    Thu December 6, 2012 at 8:34 AM MDT

    And managing 100 crappy programmers takes a lot of time, and what they deliver still is not as good as the 1 good programmer. Pure self interest limits me to hiring people in the top 5%.

    Where you can find really good people is Eastern Europe. No idea why but the educational system there does produce world class programmers. (India does too occasionally, but it’s much rarer.)

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