U.S. Towns Feel Pinch of Job Shift to Overseas (Bush Country?)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-outsource28mar28,1,1363742.story?coll=la-home-headlines

This remote Appalachian town doesn't get many visitors, but every day it sends thousands of travelers on their way. If you buy an airline ticket off the Travelocity website and need to call with a change or a question, the phone rings here.

The Travelocity call center brought 250 jobs to a community wounded by the decline of coal mining, its mainstay for a century. It plugged the town's 1,500 residents into the global high-tech economy, offering the prospect of a secure future.

That illusion crumbled last month when Travelocity fired Clintwood, saying it would close the call center by year-end and move all the jobs to India. The Internet, far from being the town's salvation, is threatening it with collapse.

Opened less than three years ago, the center is the largest private employer in the county.

"I figured it would be here forever, like Wal-Mart," said Greg Owens, 29, who joined Travelocity after being laid off from a job at a private school in northern Virginia. "Most of us are just praying for something else to come in."

[burrowowl]

1. When wil they ever

learn?
How many will vote for Bu$h again? But, Bu$h is only the crowning point, the erosion of the commonweal has been going on a long time in the U$.
I bet they voted for Ray-gun too.

[jburton]

2. Well, the private prison industry will do well

"Unless we can reverse some of these trade inequalities, the working class will simply be ruined. They'll flip burgers, go on welfare or sell drugs,"

[hadrons]

3. "Most of us are just praying for something else to come in." ....

so of course they'll vote for Bush because God likes him so much their prayers will mean even more :eyes: