The laid off programmer, that is.

It’s been in the news quite a bit lately, especially in Silicon Valley, where I’m from. Outsourcing. Especially IT and help desk jobs for computer companies. India has been the recipient of many of these positions formally held by Americans and many of the American workers are very angry. Many would like legislation to stop outsourcing and actively petition lawmakers to change the rules in this area as well as the ones for immigrant worker visas with which many foreign workers come to the United States in order to be trained in jobs that they will ultimately “take from Americans.” Daniel H. Pink takes a good look at this phenomenon in the current issue of Wired. He draws one conclusion that, “It’s easier to attack visible laws than it is to restrain the invisible hand,” which illustrates the somewhat futile effort of these activists.

Indians, on the other hand, have another point of view. A slightly more enlightened one if you ask me.

“‘Don’t you think we’re helping the US economy by doing the work here?’ asks an exasperated Lalit Suryawanshi. It frees up Americans to do other things so the economy can grow, adds [Aparna] Jairam.”

Pink rightly seems to support these bright workers from the subcontinent and shakes a finger at those U.S. workers who would deny them a chance at prosperity.

“What begins to seep through their well-tiled arguments about quality, efficiency, and optimization is a view that Americans, who have long celebrated the sweetness of dynamic capitalism, must get used to the concept that it works for non-Americans, too. Programming jobs have delivered a nice upper-middle-class lifestyle to [Indian programmers]. They own apartments. They drive new cars. They surf the Internet and watch American television and sip cappuccinos. Isn’t the emergence of a vibrant middle class in an otherwise poor country a spectacular achievement, the very confirmation of the wonders of globalization - not to mention a new market for American goods and services? And if this transition pinches a little, aren’t Americans being a tad hypocritical by whining about it? After all, where is it written that IT jobs somehow belong to Americans - and that any non-American who does such work is stealing the job from its rightful owner?”

And while it may seem cold-hearted to support such ruthless global capitalism, Pink has only optimism for the future in the United States. One thing that Americans have no shortage of, and no great competition in, is ingenuity. The creative processes at work in the minds of Americans have led this country to be the forerunner of the world in developing new ideas. Once Americans come up with things, intelligent people around mimic them and refine them. Without the initial development process though, there would be nothing for anyone to do.

Let’s put our minds to work.