True = Change is scary to many.
this truly is a troubling time in this country. change means a lower standard of living for the majority of Americans.
You're beating a drum that has been beaten for several generations already, one that has been consistently proven wrong.
The arguments were the same when kids were leaving the farms for the factories. please elaborate how this was perceived as a lower standard of living.
Yeah, perhaps I strayed slightly off message on that point. But specifically, why does change mean a lower standard of living? Then perhaps I could better answer.
Now they're leaving the factories for *><><><*x.
i notice you left that part blank because that is whats there for these people who in error you seem to feel is a small part of america when in fact is a very large portion.
Its just more change - the only troubling part is for the people that were accustomed to walking out of high school and into the factory - it may become a rather stagnant standard of living for that model.
you seem more than willing to discount that these are the very people who made this country what it is. these are the same people who fight the wars. not the educated high paid professionals. hobbits model of america is one of the two class system the haves and the have nots. unfortunately the have nots are the majority of americans.
Nostalgia cannot dictate economic change, or resistance to it. I made no judgments about anyone in any 'category'; and I certainly am not advocating a feudal system of haves and have nots. I think you're attempting to pigeon hole my statements without cause.
The reality is this: manufacturing may no longer be the thing we can lean on for our economic well being. Required still, no doubt - but it cannot play as large a role in our growth and stability as it has in decades past. Why? because an 18 year old Indonesian can do that job - almost anyone can do that job. That reduces the the value of the resource. You want to compete with the 18 year old Indonesian, you also have to compete with his standard of living - something I don't think many Americans should aspire to. Our standard of living is outgrowing manufacturing's ability to provide it. Its time to seek other ways.
Innovation drives the economy. Smart people are usually the source of innovation. We need to make more smart people (paraphrased, stolen, plagiarized, copied, and what not).
The larger increases in living standards have been going to the higher educated. Get the kids to college and beyond at all costs.
28% of Americans attain a bachelors degree or higher. they are the minority.
at our local college, Oakland university, it costs $30,000 for 4 year's of tuition plus extras. at our state university its 60k+ with room and board.
care to take a stab at how many families of 4 can afford this?
as a single professional you have a very narrow view of this countries economic climate. don't get me wrong, given your situation my view would be much the same.
I am a glass half full guy on these things - no lie there. I've experienced and witnessed lots of success in my life thus far - but that does not mean I have not shared failures as well. My neighbor was put out of a job 5 years before retirement a while back. He printed catalogs mostly, and his company had no solution to the Internet shopping turn of events. Paper was out, HTML was in - he was gone. My uncle was a coal miner, etc. But thats only one side of change - the easy one to focus on - makes good copy, as the editors would say. But the flip side is Google, Apple, Tivo, etc. Companies that emerged (or re-emerged) from nowhere to become extremely successful. I'm willing to bet that employees of these companies are not suffering from lower standards of living.
And posting about the lack of advanced degrees only makes my point - we're not doing enough, gotta git em mo skhoolin. College is expensive, yes - many families struggle with expenses or cannot make them at all. But there are several respectable programs available for financial aid, low interest loans, etc. Most anyone that wants to go to college, can go to college (I had student loan payments for many years).
