A Race to the Top

According to columnist Thomas L. Friedman, while French workers – who voted down the EU constitution – strive to preserve a 35-hour work week, Indian engineers are "ready to work a 35-hour day." In Europe, workers whose 50-year system of benefits is collapsing blame capitalism and outsourcing for their problems. However, writes Friedman, the story is not so cut-and-dry. Jobs are outsourced from the West to India, for example, not only because the labor is cheaper, but often because it is better. Although poverty is more widespread in India, a large number of young people are more skilled and increasingly motivated to succeed at a variety of jobs now available to them as a result of globalization. Much of this drive is exhibited by the lower rungs of Indian society who, for the first time, see realistic ways to improve their status. Friedman writes that voters in "old Europe" seem to be saying, "Stop the world, we want to get off," while voters in India are saying, "Stop the world, we want to get on." – YaleGlobal