The "A" List Struts Its Stuff... Were you invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland? Was anybody in real estate there? Sounded pretty bleak for our industry.

According to the Wall Street Journal, participants voiced doubts "about one of the central tenets of global economic integration. ... whether the increasingly global economy will produce as many high-wage jobs in rich countries as once was expected."

"The rising number of skilled, white-collar jobs migrating from rich nations to developing countries is raising fears that, in fact, well-paid workers in developed countries will have trouble finding equally well-paid computer, design and medical jobs at home." (Jan 26, 2004)

And according to the New York Times in a related article, "The market research firm Gartner estimates that one of every 10 jobs at American technology vendors or service providers will move overseas by the end of this year. By 2008, one-quarter of all traditional information technology jobs will be in emerging market nations." (Jan 27, 2004)

Wow. That sounds like a lot of lost jobs. Will these trends also translate into reduced demand for office space in the U.S.? What do you think?

--Peter Pike