Lieberman gets religion
Are politicians ready to vote for taxes on companies that export jobs offshore?
What do you know? Joe Lieberman says Uncle Sam needs to think up new ways to deal with the human costs of offshore outsourcing--including the possibility of wage-loss insurance.What was once a far-out idea is quickly gaining currency with the mainstream. The same sentiment was reflected in the results of the CNET-Harris Interactive poll we published last week. My take is that the numbers reflect the enlightened self-interest of many--though not a majority--in the business world.
During the TiE gig, I broached the question, only to have Sequoia Capital's Doug Leone dump all over it. I didn't expect much from Leone anyway, but the triumph of the dog-eat-dog, pure free-market ideology VCs live by means that a lot of tech workers are fated to wind up as collateral damage. Maybe Lieberman's speech is a sign that the political class is waking up to that fact. The approach of a presidential election will do that.