Be afraid, be very afraid.

In advance of a formal press release due in mid-April, Citigroup yesterday announced plans to lay off approximately 15,000 high-cost workers in cities where doing business carries a high price tag — New York, London and Hong Kong.

The downsizing comes as Citigroup chief executive Charles Prince traveled to India to announce the expansion of Citigroup’s India operation into areas such as research, investment banking and credit analysis, as reported in the New York Times.

I came across this via the Monster blog and thought I would share it. I can remember in the 80s when our leaders told us as Americans we should be fine with manufacturing jobs moving overseas because our economy was undergoing a transformation from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. This was all part of some great master economic theory and in the end all ‘boats would be raised’ because we would be left with higher paying jobs in the new sectors.

I think we’ve seen how that has panned out. It appears instead of raising all boats a lot of us have been left high and dry as the tide has rolled out while a select few have managed to take their large boats out to sea on a cruise.

Still, I can’t help but think this change isn’t an entirely bad thing. I think the true question is whether or not or leaders have the ability to look down the road to the future and figure out ways to maintain our economic growth and well-being without moving us backwards.