Alun wrote in message .. .
PAMNO (N2EY) wrote in
:
In article , Alun
writes:
(N2EY) wrote in
:
In article , Alun
writes:
snip
I think reliance on oil is too strong. More needs to be done on other
sources of energy. Fat chance with oilmen in control, not that much was
ever done before.
And the truly ironic part is that Ralph "Unsafe At Any Speed" was a
major factor in putting an oilman in the White House by dividing the
opposition in 2000. And he's poised to repeat that trick later this
year.
Agreed up to a certain point. I think that Mr Nader will find that he gets
far fewer votes this time.
I hope you are right. But it's not over till it's over.
The Democratic primaries have shown that people
are focussed on getting the oilmen out of the White House. That and the
fact that they saw what happened last time are likely to decimate his
support.
It was obvious four years ago and yet millions put their heads in the
sand.
Another example is the expectation of a trained workforce without
investing the resources in education to produce that workforce.
"Resources" doesn't just mean "money", either, though money is a big
part of it.
Agreed. The cost of education is running out of control.
It has far exceeded the general inflation level, yet is more necessary
than ever.
Here's one data point:
In the fall of 1972, when I entered the University of Pennsylvania,
tuition alone (no books, fees, etc.) was $3000/year. Which was very
expensive at the time. Today the same school charges more than 10 times
that. But will the starting salary offered to a BSEE in 2006 be more
than 10 times what it was in 1976, when I graduated? Is fininacial aid
10 times what it was in my time there? Nope.
73 de Jim, N2EY
Grants and
scholarships would make more sense than tax breaks for the rich.
snip
I think access to education is already a problem and likely to get worse.
At the same time it's probably about the only antidote to offshore
production.
Then it should be a major priority, rather than trips to Mars ans
such.
Even then, you have countries like India to worry about. Despite their
overall poverty they have more English speaking educated middle class than
America (their sheer numbers help here), and they are willing to do white
collar and professional jobs for much less.
Only because it costs so much less to live there.
Way back in 1783, when the US Constitution was written here in
Philadelphia, one of the limitations placed on Congress was that there
would be no tariffs on *exports*. *Imports* could be tarriffed/taxed
at will - and they were! This was done both as a source of income and
to protect local industry from destructive foreign competition. It is
my understanding that we still have some forms of this in place, in
the form of such things as limits on the number of cars that may be
imported without special taxes. These import quotas caused several
carmakers (mostly Japanese) to build assembly plants here in the USA.
Some cars are even built here and shipped *back to Japan*, because by
doing so they count against the import number.
Maybe it's time for that sort of thing to be expanded. Exporting jobs
may be good for some companies' bottom line in the short run, but in
the long run it spells big trouble.
73 de Jim, N2EY