Neither Bush nor Kerry answered the question about what Americans should do about job loss due to outsourcing.
Both of them said education was the answer.
Let me shed some light on the subject. Information Technology jobs are being outsourced to India, and other countries. Americans are losing their jobs to foreigners because of the tax breaks and special privileges corporations get by hiring foreigners. A foreign programmer will work between $5 - 15 per hour, where an American programmer can get between $19 - 175+ per hour depending on their skills.
The majority of our American programmers hold college degrees, and some multiple degrees. Education is NOT the problem.
One problem with our IT workforce is overeducation. In the 1960's and '70's the technology was new and most of the work was on new hardware and software with a large R&D investment. That was as true for "garage" tech firms as it was for established large firms.
The PC breakthrough in the 1980's allowed for automation of many thinking tasks, much like the industrial revolution mechanized manual tasks over 100 years before. Among those tasks that could be fully or partially automated included programming and help center diagnostics. By the 1990's this automation of software allowed those tasks to be done by less skilled workers.
A highly educated programmer, should not, and does not expect to do routine programming or customer support. They should be developing new ideas, and providing customization support. This is no different than expecting a highly trained mechanical engineer to work on the assembly line.
