There has been a lot of discussion since Athens about foreign swimmers training in the United States. Most of them attend U.S. Universities, receive athletic scholarships, and compete at NCAA's. Some notable examples include Duje Draganja (Cal), Fred Bousquet and Kirsty Coventry (Auburn), Markus Rogan (Stanford), and the South African sprinters (Arizona). Some train in the U.S., but don't compete for a university (Inge de Bruijn). All of these athletes benefit from U.S. coaching, from training with U.S. swimmers, and in some cases, from financial support provided by U.S. entities (athletic scholarships). They all turn around and then win medals for other countries.
A couple questions: 1) What do you think about this arrangement generally? 2) Is it of benefit or detriment to U.S. swimming to have these foreign athletes training and competing here? 3) Should we be giving athletic scholarships, which are a scarce resource in swimming, to foreign athletes who will represent their own countries internationally instead of U.S.-born swimmers who will represent us internationally?
I'm sure there are other issues, but these come directly to mind.
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Former Member
Originally posted by aquageek
Tom and I have intellectual differences on this, which is fine, but you are flat wrong in your assertion. The sole reason US companies outsorce to foreign nations (India, China, Russia, Brazil) is the labor cost, not the brain power. We have the brains here. A US resource costs anywhere from 2.5 (India) to 8 times (Russian, China, Brazil) as much as these foreign sources (white collar labor). I deal with this every single day from a funding perspective and I assure you there is no reason other than economics driving this.
And, you are also incorrect that these outsourced folks are contributing solely to the US. It's very lucrative for the home countries, check out India. Countries are lining up to provide cheaper and cheaper labor to realize the vast economic benefits to the home countries economy.
It's also completely off-topic. The notion of outsourcing to cheap labor pools is not the same as foreign swimmers on US scholarships.
Yes, GEEK, it could be off topic, but it is still the question of fair or not fair, which relates to the original topic being fair or not!You cannot draw the perfect line and that is what I am aiming at...
GEEK, talking about our brains here, I am not saying you do not have them here, but a lot of very bright people from Russia came here to work and it is not contributing Russia in any way, moreover it is a hit on a Russian economy, and it is not always labor cost, a lot of those people are paide HUGE!And then, just check out the medical field:how many Indian doctors do you see?Are they paid any less than American ones?I do not think so.Unless you are talking saving on labor cost a-la mexican dishwashers and such there really is not much saving there if you go inot white-collar world ...
Originally posted by aquageek
Tom and I have intellectual differences on this, which is fine, but you are flat wrong in your assertion. The sole reason US companies outsorce to foreign nations (India, China, Russia, Brazil) is the labor cost, not the brain power. We have the brains here. A US resource costs anywhere from 2.5 (India) to 8 times (Russian, China, Brazil) as much as these foreign sources (white collar labor). I deal with this every single day from a funding perspective and I assure you there is no reason other than economics driving this.
And, you are also incorrect that these outsourced folks are contributing solely to the US. It's very lucrative for the home countries, check out India. Countries are lining up to provide cheaper and cheaper labor to realize the vast economic benefits to the home countries economy.
It's also completely off-topic. The notion of outsourcing to cheap labor pools is not the same as foreign swimmers on US scholarships.
Yes, GEEK, it could be off topic, but it is still the question of fair or not fair, which relates to the original topic being fair or not!You cannot draw the perfect line and that is what I am aiming at...
GEEK, talking about our brains here, I am not saying you do not have them here, but a lot of very bright people from Russia came here to work and it is not contributing Russia in any way, moreover it is a hit on a Russian economy, and it is not always labor cost, a lot of those people are paide HUGE!And then, just check out the medical field:how many Indian doctors do you see?Are they paid any less than American ones?I do not think so.Unless you are talking saving on labor cost a-la mexican dishwashers and such there really is not much saving there if you go inot white-collar world ...
