Want to fix the economy? Fire your sysadminSooner or later we need to slam shut the door on technical have-nots. Pew Research found that nearly half of adults surveyed need help setting up computers and cell phones. Ars Technica notes what follows: Kids are always fixing their parents' PCs. But they don't take these insights to the logical conclusion: It's time to fire the IT support team.Imagine how much progress we could make as a society if we just dropped those who just can't merge onto the Information Superhighway. I will never get back those lost weekends I spent formatting my mom's Filemaker forms or troubleshooting my aunt's wireless router via cell phone. But I can spare my kids from ever having to face the same fate. The same goes at work, where the bosses have headcount to trim. They can no longer afford to pretend that it's okay that you don't understand Excel, since they have to pay to have someone on site who can explain it to you. Every dollar spent paying an IT guy is a dollar not spent doing whatever it is that makes the company money. That's why it's time companies everywhere get out of the handholding business. Oh, sure, that means more people out on the street. But they can — and should — get reemployed making systems that are so solid they don't require tech-support calls. There's an unpleasant converse: Desk jockeys will have to face the fact that part of their job is to understand the tools they're being paid to use. People will never take responsibility for learning about their computers as long as it's easier to pick up a phone and whine to someone.