It's amazing to see the convoluted logic applied to the U.S. economy and our entanglements with the WTO and these various treaties. The catch phrase of the '90's was that we are moving further from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy. Now the service based economy (at least the higher paying portion) is being outsourced and I haven't yet heard what in the world the new economic model is.
One fascinating tidbit I just heard about was a new plan by several programming companies to buy used cruise liners, park them in international waters and have East Asian programmers work multi-day shifts and rotate onto the mainland where they would be accorded the same visitation rights as a traditional able-bodied seaman. Supposedly a huge cost cutting measure as they will not have to conform to labor laws & pay benefits or arrange visa's for the workers.
We live in strange times.
