Julian Sanchez picked up from Gene Healy a Times of India story with a new twist on outsourcing.

Says a programmer on Slashdot.org who outsourced his job: “About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 out of the $67,000 I get. He’s happy to have the work. I’m happy that I have to work only 90 minutes a day just supervising the code. My employer thinks I’m telecommuting. Now I’m considering getting a second job and doing the same thing.”

Smarter techies are working for three to four companies at the same time, outsourcing all the coding and just supervising them for few hours a day. This way they are able to earn four to five time more than what they used to.

This looks like another example of disintermediation. Rather than having the firm outsource your job, you outsource it yourself.

Another positive story on outsourcing was spotted by Virginia Postrel. It seems that California gains from outsourcing.

For Discussion. How does health care cost disintermediation affect outsourcing?