Are U a victim of the IT revolution?R U prepared for the nex

Heartlander SG

How many of you are the victims of the IT revolution, getting out of job because of the introduction of computors into your office?

How many of you work in the bank and out of job due to the bank merger exercise? The banks merged in order to stay lean and competitive to survive? The introduction of internet banking and automation takes away jobs too.

Have you prepared your children for the next wave of revolution so that they can find job in a competitive Singapore where jobs are going, gone? Can you think of a job which will remain indispensable and your employer could find no reasons to retrench you?

While many sectors are turning sunset industries due to its high costs of operation in Singapore, the trends are gearing for more high tech industries but how far we can go? Now we are turning to biotech and areas where there is niche and creativity which no man ever think of, how deep the knowledge-based industries can we penetrate? Have you found an industry which will likely to survive the keen competition around the world?

No Frill SG

"Can you think of a job which will remain indispensable and your employer could find no reasons to retrench you?"

You'd wish.

There is no job left that is bullet proof. Gone are the days where there is job security. Instead of turning into the entitlement / victim mentality, get some upgrading on your own life.
Our govt is here to lead us, not to coddle us with jobs.
With attitudes like yours, who concentrate on being 'victims', it won't be surprising if you're out of a job soon. There are no victims in this world. Only people who refuse to pick themselves up and just lie there expecting the govt to come to your rescue.

Wake up man. it's the 21st century. If you do read a book, read Thomas Friedman's lexus and the olive tree.
Should do you some good instead of complaining that there are no more bullet proof jobs.

CX SG

[This message has been edited by CX (edited 24 April 2002).]

CX SG

While I don't disagree that globalisation is basically irreversible and people are better off picking themselves up rather than whining about how bad life's been to them, I don't agree with your line of reasoning...

Friedman is not all stone hearted. He did not say those left behind should be abandoned. He does advocate the existence of "safety nets" to ease the pains of globalisation. What he disagrees, is what the Sg government calls the "crutch mentality".

But as martin luther king said before: how is the black man to pull himself up by his own bootstrap if he has no boots?

Hence, how is the man who has no legs to walk without crutches? Many people are in dire straits now. they are advanced in age. they don't know how to use a computer. they face a steep learning curve. they have families to feed. One should take these factors into consideration before passing judgement on them.

Morever, Friedman is obviosly biased in his assessment. If u've read his editorials in the new york times, you'ld know what i mean. This is a very good journalist. no doubt about that. but also one who is extremely free with his opinions... he doesn't have many friends in the mid-east because of that and his views are very typically american.

And as much as they would like it to be, America's ways are not the ways of the world... yet. And some people would like to keep it that way.

How good is a government as a leader if it cannot even ensure that the livelihood of the people is taken care of? what is the use of having a government that allows a large proportion of its people to become unemployed just so that they can "lead it into the next century"?

We are facing a situation similar to the industrial revolution 200 years ago. If governments let this situation fester and spiral out of control, they'ld wish they've never been elected... There must be some safety nets to ensure that those who miss the train can get on the next one.

Devil1976 SG

Yeah.... What's the point of steering a ship at HIGH SPEED if at the end of the journey MOST people falls off it....? And to think that it has been repeated time and again, 'IF THERE'S NO GOVERNMENT, THERE WON'T BE THE PEOPLE. SINGAPOREANS SHOULD REMEMBER WHAT HAVE BEEN DONE FOR THEM...' How about 'IF THERE'S NO PEOPLE WORKING IN THE PAST, WHERE WOULD BE THE PRESENT (NOT TO MENTION THE FUTURE) AND THE GOVRNMENT BE...?'

Yes, NO DOUBT... You work your way up the ladder in order to SURVIVE... But how about people who WORKED and yet still got sliced off their flesh...? And the people thinking of what they'd contributed (Yeah, I know that's the PAST liao... The SWEET, old... PAST...)...? To think of what happens to them today, how they've been treated... Talk about having CHILDREN which is the IMPORTANT next generation..? What would happen to the NEXT GENERATION? History REPEATS itself..? Who DARES to imagine...? Who look forward to things...? How FAR in the future can you see...? Parents PUSHING their children onto the SPEEDING SHIP.... A LIFE? A nightmare or TRAGEDY...?

Yes, we're talking about SURVIVAL here... We're also talking about the NEXT GENERATION...? The MORALE of the people... I DOUBT most of them know where they're heading for now..? SO UNPREDICTABLE.... Guess the NEXT BETTER thing to do is to PURGE us OUT with the FOREIGN TALENTS...?

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In LIGHT I shall FEAR NOT. FOR what I AM is CUT so DEEP inside of ME.
I LIVE my FLESH and SOUL ONLY to BLEED for the OTHERS.
FEAR ME NOT. FOR I AM YOUR 'MASTER'. GIVE YOU STRENGTH. FOR YOU ARE MY 'ENEMY'.
DEVIL PHRASE I

I have no 'friends' nor 'family'.
I hold no past and see not future...
These are just samples of illusions....
I don't exist, but I shall live ETERNITY..... DEVIL PHRASE II

Though NOT the RIGHT thing to do,
This might be the ONLY NATURAL thing to be...
Just like heat is produced when work done...
EVIL is the GENERATION of SYSTEM FLAWS... DEVIL PHRASE III

In DREAMS you CAN NEVER DIE.....
For YOUR LIFE is about the EXISTENCE of....
Your Happiness.... Your Sadness... Your Pain.... Your Pleasure....
Like a painted sky, when it rains... All CEASE to BE... DEVIL PHRASE IV

Through Chaos the Devil gain strength,
to face the lord, his Creator.
Through his questionings, he recovered his true existence...
Good & Evil, Can they co-exists in harmony? DEVIL PHRASE V

When Law & Rules are there,
they are NOT about JUSTICE.
While reality & dreams are there,
they are NOT about SURVIVAL..

And Life & Death NOT about LIVING...
Good & Evil NOT about definitions....

IF truly there is EVIL, it is NOT just one of its kind......

DEVIL'S SEVENTH PHRASE

ße COOL, NOT s¢rr¥....

CX SG

Gee Devil, nice of you to contribute, but i really wish you would cut down the length of your signature... who reads it anyway?!

And its not THAT tragic for crying out loud! I merely meant that its important to put it all into context and present a balanced view... its not all good and its not THAT bad. Not here anyway... Most of us are equipped to ride this storm. Its just that some options are still painful to some people. It takes some getting used to.

Actually, its not always a good idea for governments to be too "socialist" when dealing with this sort of problem... its important for people to find their own solutions as well... its basically ecology. U gotta find your own place in the food web. To begin with, you may not even like it when the government shoves a solution in your face...

Globalisation requires one to think away from local. Job security is not exactly a thing of the past... its just been redefined: where u used to work and athrophy in a place before, u now work, learn, upgrade, and remain relevant and not lock yourself into the old paradigm that same is good and change is bad.

And if an executive is suddenly retrenched and destitute, he's gotta ask himself why he's broke after working all his life... where did all the money go? Thus, contrary to unable to plan, Globalisation requires people to think at least 3 steps ahead instead of living each day at a time...

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I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

D. H. Lawrence