One way to save gas is if employers allowed their employees, who can, to telecommute. It would also save money on office space among other things. I've worked virtual for well over a decade, and I can say for certain I'm more productive.

This is not really the same thing, but it is a close parallel. If you call a US company for say "customer service", the chances are you're going to get someone in India answering your call. If you send an email...no telling where it will be received. Do you know why this is? I'll tell you why. During the dot com bubble from 1997 - 2001, the US wired the whole damn planet with fiber optic networks, then most of the dot com companies went belly up. At about the same time, India decided to open up it's economy and, as a result of their change in thinking, bought all of these networks for ten cents on the dollar. For example, if a computer programmer in the US earns 100K annually...the same programmer in India will earn 5k or 10k, and will be just as productive as their counterpart in the US. Sad but true.

Back to telecommuting...if you make an airline reservation by voice...you're speaking to someone in a home office or their kitchen...the airlines have been doing this for many years...it works, and saves them a pile of money.

Telecommuting is the future, and companies who don't realize it, or are too damn plain ass backwards...are going to suffer the most. The US must adapt, period.

This is not good

At any rate, I recommend reading this book. He gets a little political toward the end, but all in all he nails it.