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Fair winds and following sea

sailor 'we came from a different time , when I was young the U.S.A. was the greatest I fear we may never return to that glory . we had respect for others ,pride in our work ,and love for our children .I can only hope we shall return to our roots ,

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age is just a number

CSS, in order to have fresh fruit and vegetables, they are grown all over the world and shipped here. Lets use tomatoes as an example. Right now tomatoes are coming from Mexico and Florida. In a few weeks, they will likely be coming from California. In August, they might come from Wisconsin. Then in December, they will be coming from South America. That way, we always have fresh fruit and vegetables. Fifty years ago, you could not have found a fresh tomato in December, but now you can. We also export many agricultural products to other countries so that they can have them fresh when they are out of season in their countries.

The cane I can't explain.

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The reason our manufactoring is moving overseas is high wages (unions are partly at fault) and value added taxes. We can no longer compete. It's only gonna get worse unless we get rid of the tax system we have now that empowers those we elect and institute some kind of flat/fair tax. Grab hold of your wallet. The new administration is only getting started.

I've got a cap with the POW/MIA symbol on the front that was made in:

Yes, Viet Nam.

Your oranges could be irradiated or soaked with pesticides and wax. That'll keep them "fresh" for a good while.

We all decided that saving a couple of bucks buying at Wal-Mart was more important than helping our neighbors and relatives keep their jobs. For years I looked for the "Made in USA" label and finally gave up because virtually nothing is made here anymore!

I bought me one of these a while back:

Bubba Stik...


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I have never taken the time to study all the facts, but the following has always baffled me somewhat. When Japan first got active in the car manufacturing market people would say that they worked for low wages and the import/export fees weren't equal. I also heard that our money built their factories after WWII. Well, how come they came to America and built their factory, new, in our back yard, hired Americans, and were still competitive?

That you ask this question is interesting. I believe we've had a trade deficit since around 1985. Like many things, no one paid attention. Now it has gotten to the point where we import so much that our manufacturing base has slipped away.

The same type of thing happened with the budget. Our overall debt grew and no one noticed (sure Ross Perot did but he was just a kook - right?). People would hear that the budget deficit (an annual shortfall of revenue over expenses) was a few billion to a few hundred billion dollars and not realize that our national debt was growing into the trillions of dollars. Now we're so far in debt we may never get out. Scary.

It is hard to imagine why or understand why we can't make something like a cane at a competitive price. How much labor do you think goes into making a cane? I imagine it's a pretty automated process. I guess our machines belong to unions too.

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18-4, 15-4

Here's the patch in the back of a leather jacket that I bought last Fall:

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Festina lente - A. Caesar

Shugart, that will teach you to read the fine print.

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How many schools still teach engineering classes? Most kids today know more about the latest video games than they do about math or science. The same holds true in the medical profession...my dentist is Chinese and my doctor is from Thailand. Where will the USA be in 20-30 years...barely a third world country????

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Quite a few actually, and they are mostly filled with Asian/American students from what I can see in my neck of the woods.

Interesting. I wonder if the NRA leather jacket is made in the U.S.A

It's worse than that. I got my engineering Ph.D in 1972. A few years ago, one of my old professors tried to recruit me for a faculty position. His observation was that they were now having to accept faculty members that they wouldn't have let into graduate school 40 years ago. Today's students are being educated by, in many cases, poorer faculty, many of whom have never practiced engineering, having gone immediately from academic student to academic faculty with no industrial experience whatsoever. How today's engineer is expected to learn the "art" of engineering is being divested to industry, and they are not that good as teaching institutions.

I really hate to sound like and old f**t, but I don't see much future for a country that manufactures less and less.

Buck

Our future isn't bright.

I'm thankful to have lived most of my life in the last century. Especially that magical time in the 70's and 80's -- between 'the pill' and nasty STD's; when women's lib meant -- well ya'll know what I'm talkin' about. . .

And what a great excuse not to stop smoking.

Our economy and standard of living will continue decline -- maybe slowly on it's own, but probably much more rapidly with the current administration's 'help'. JMHO

I fear for the future of my grandson.

- Jim

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Festina lente - A. Caesar

One reason they came to the US, built factories and hired Americans to work in their plants is because we started pressuring them not to export so many cars to the US, so they figured they'd just build 'em in the States. They also moved to building and exporting luxury cars because that way, staying within "voluntary" export quotas, they could make better margin and more money.

The generation of Japanese who survived the war, and the children who were born during the occupation so who are now reaching retirement age, were incredibly hard workers. They built modern Japan. This generation is often just as disgusted as we are with their own younger generation of lazy and disaffected youth.

Japan's national dept is something like 170% of its GDP. It's population is rapidly graying. It has one of the lowest birthrates in the world. It discourages immigration.... The future is not looking good for Japan, or at least not Japan as the postwar generation has known it...

Much of Japan's industrial base has moved offshore to cheaper climes. They call this the "hollowing out" of Japan, and it worries them.

The concern for the future, and the lament for the better values of the past, are similar in both our countries, and I expect elsewhere as well in what has been known has the first world.