Outsourcing of culture

Culture can also be outsourced. Material cultural like films, music, fashion in clothes is often times spread over boundaries. For example, many people in Western Europe including in countries like Sweden watch American Hollywood films and listen to American music. Foreign countries especially European countries have been very open to American movies, music, clothing a foods (like McDonald's). However, in other parts of the world, American culture is not being accepted. In countries like China, Middle East, India and Africa are not embracing American culture very readily. For example, in the Middle East and parts of Africa, Bollywood movies from India instead of Hollywood movies are being accepted.

I feel that with the American relationship with the Middle East would deteriorate further if there is not a culture does not flow between the two countries.

Her is the article if you are interested

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/business/22scene.html

Chicken Nuggets outsourced

This article shows the shocking reality of where our chicken nuggets comes from. According to me, this is the height of globalization. The article shows how the chicken nuggets are processed in a production plant outside Bangkok. here, at the 'factory' chicken parts from Spain, China, Brazil are brought in and processed until the parts are indistinguishable from one another. According to the article unlike other meat, processed chicken nuggets are processed together maintaining the 15% fat, 30% bone and rest meat ratio. Thus, the texture has to do with the different parts of chicken added.

The article goes on to talk about the terrible working conditions of the workers working in these factories. It talks about how many workers lose their fingers by the blades used for cutting meat.

Lastly, the articles talks about the antibiotics added to the chicken processed in Thailand or China. These antibiotics are illegal in Europe, and thus, many European countries inspect the chicken nuggets before they reach the shore.

Next time you bite into McChicken nuggets, think again!

The Production of McNuggets article

Medical Tourism Disadvantages

This link, shows a news report on Medical Tourism that was shown on ABC news. It talks about Medical Tourism, are traveling to other countries to receive same surgery at a fraction of the cost. The video shows that patients not only travel for cosmetic surgery, but also for major surgery like hip surgery and orthopedics. However, according to the video, one major set back of medical tourism is that patients may get complications after surgery. Furthermore, many surgeons advice, patients not to travel right after surgery as this may cause complications. Some countries do not practice strong malpractice laws, and patients may not be able to sue the doctor if the surgery does not go well. Therefore, although medical tourism is a tempting choice for patients, patients should consult travel agencies and do research before traveling.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6807942641511856849&q=medical+tourism&total=439&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Medical Tourism

Medical Tourism is the idea that patients travel from more developed countries especially from UK, Canada and United States to less developed countries like Malaysia, Thailand and India. Most patients with chronic ailments come to these countries because the cost of healthcare can be much cheaper than that at home. Other medical tourists also go to other countries for treatment because they are accommodated much quickly, versus remaining in their home country would mean waiting for months before a surgery can be carried out. A classic example of this is Britain with its National Health Services (NHS).

An example of the cost benefit of medical tourism can be seen by comparing the cost for angioplasty in the United States that is around $47,000. This same procedure can be done in Thailand for US$6,400 and in India for US$4,600.

Many patients that go for medical tourism also go sight seeing in that country as part of rehabilitation therapy. Many of the tourist destinations sell themselves as both medical tourism sites and relaxation sites. Medical Tourism is a combination of low cost procedures and a sight seeing gateway. Although medical tourism does not fit the traditional definition of outsourcing, it still moves services to other countries due to their low cost advantage.

This is a BBC article on Medical Tourism:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2524665.stm

About The Blog

This blog is mainly about economic impact of outsourcing. Outsourcing is the process by which jobs are sent abroad from one country (many times developed countries) to another country (mostly developing countries) because of the low cost of labor in that country. Some of these countries include China, India, Brazil. Outsourcing can affect the the economies of both the developed and developing countries.

The post will contain some posts of news articles that connect to outsourcing, it will contain articles and videos related to the topic.

Internet Videos

This is a hilarious video that I found on the internet. I would probably rate this video as one of the funniest one I found.

The video was aired on the Conan o Brien Late Night Show on NBC It is about an employee traveling to India because he was having problems on his computer. It shows the affect that outsourcing has on the average person who needs to use IT tech support. It also shows the effect that outsourcing has on United States.

This is the URL for the video:
http://www.jengajam.com/r/Conan-India-Hd