I'm not sure what the difference between industry and manufacturing
is, in the sense you suggest. Software? That is certainly technology
but not industry. It's akin to architecture or engineering perhaps, but
that brings up the idea that the United States will be the world's
provider of intellectual property and the lesser nations will build it
to our whims for a pittance. If that situation ever applied it
certainly won't be for long. People in India can write code, and do it
cheaper than we can. They can design a car, an airplane, a set of
extrusion dies, just as we can. And to the extent they use our IP,
they often aren't inclined to pay for it anyway.

CO2 emissions may not be a signiificant matter, but the sheer volume
of oil we import is. The fact is, we'd be better off if Saudi oil were
far more expensive. Agriculture would become more labor intensive and
raw food costs would go up. American lifestyles would revert to what
they were fifty years ago, as fast food operations-dependent on Mexican
immigrant labor which would be sent home under the groundswell of
nationalism an imploding economy would provoke, and dirt cheap raw food
costs-would grind to a slow halt. Rail would displace sleeper cab
linehaul trucking as the preferrred method of moving freight in
truckload quantities-rail and LTL trucking would have a renaissance,
along with their labor issues.

Some would consider it a beatific vision. Others, a nightmare. But I
think we would be better off.

wrote in message
oups.com...

I'm not sure what the difference between industry and manufacturing
is, in the sense you suggest. Software?

Yes, sort of, we have most of the people and resources for thnking up things
that are manufactured elsewhere

That is certainly technology
but not industry. It's akin to architecture or engineering perhaps, but
that brings up the idea that the United States will be the world's
provider of intellectual property and the lesser nations will build it
to our whims for a pittance. If that situation ever applied it
certainly won't be for long. People in India can write code, and do it
cheaper than we can. They can design a car, an airplane, a set of
extrusion dies, just as we can. And to the extent they use our IP,
they often aren't inclined to pay for it anyway.

CO2 emissions may not be a signiificant matter, but the sheer volume
of oil we import is.

And who has been keeping us and is keeping us from developing our own oil
resources at competitive prices?

The fact is, we'd be better off if Saudi oil were
far more expensive.

No, we'd be better off if finding and producing our own oil wasn't over
regulated to make it unprofitable. Then of course there's the nonsense of
drilling for oil in places like ANWAR.

Agriculture would become more labor intensive and
raw food costs would go up.

No reason for it to do so. Agriculture in places like Australia are not
done by nearly as much manual labor as they are here, simply because they
don't have the cheap labor we have. There's one reason why we haven't
adopted a more mechanical means of picking crops and that's because as long
as the politicians do noting about illegal immigration and labor is cheap,
there's no reason for Agri-business to upgrade.

American lifestyles would revert to what
they were fifty years ago, as fast food operations-dependent on Mexican
immigrant labor which would be sent home under the groundswell of
nationalism an imploding economy would provoke, and dirt cheap raw food
costs-would grind to a slow halt. Rail would displace sleeper cab
linehaul trucking as the preferrred method of moving freight in
truckload quantities-rail and LTL trucking would have a renaissance,
along with their labor issues.

Rail is another example of a business that was essentially regulated out of
business. It's far cheaper to move things by rail than by long haul truck.
Who knows how much faster high speed trains might have come into being if we
had not screwed the Railroads?

Some would consider it a beatific vision. Others, a nightmare. But I
think we would be better off.

If we could get a return to where morality was not something to be ignored
as it is today, we'd be better off still. Not in the sense that we should
adopt the same morality, but there used to be shame associated with many
things that are now considered no big deal, or else subsidized by tax
dollars. There would be a very strong disincentive to be an unwed mother if
there were government handout. Think about how businessmen were thought of
50 years ago, it was, with some few exceptions, considered honorable to be a
fair businessman who put out a quality product or service.

Michael McKelvy wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

I'm not sure what the difference between industry and manufacturing
is, in the sense you suggest. Software?

Yes, sort of, we have most of the people and resources for thnking up
things
that are manufactured elsewhere

Most of the ROW is converting over to software written globally and
instigated by an ethnic Swede from Finland. Most of the world's NC
machining hardware is from Europe and Japan. The biggest passenger
aircraft is Euro and the most profitable dedicated heavy cargo aircraft
is from the Ukraine. Most of the non-Open Source software in embedded
systems is from Canada. The number one American manufacturer of diesel
engines is phasing out its flagship engine for a US-built version of a
Mercedes engine. German printing presses absolutely dominate offset
printing. Jet engines and microprocessors are the last frontiers of
American superiority and it's a matter of time before they too are
superceded.


That is certainly technology
but not industry. It's akin to architecture or engineering perhaps,
but
that brings up the idea that the United States will be the world's
provider of intellectual property and the lesser nations will build
it
to our whims for a pittance. If that situation ever applied it
certainly won't be for long. People in India can write code, and do
it
cheaper than we can. They can design a car, an airplane, a set of
extrusion dies, just as we can. And to the extent they use our IP,
they often aren't inclined to pay for it anyway.

CO2 emissions may not be a signiificant matter, but the sheer
volume
of oil we import is.

And who has been keeping us and is keeping us from developing our own
oil
resources at competitive prices?

The fact is, we'd be better off if Saudi oil were
far more expensive.

No, we'd be better off if finding and producing our own oil wasn't
over
regulated to make it unprofitable. Then of course there's the
nonsense of
drilling for oil in places like ANWAR.

Agriculture would become more labor intensive and
raw food costs would go up.

No reason for it to do so. Agriculture in places like Australia are
not
done by nearly as much manual labor as they are here, simply because
they
don't have the cheap labor we have. There's one reason why we
haven't
adopted a more mechanical means of picking crops and that's because
as long
as the politicians do noting about illegal immigration and labor is
cheap,
there's no reason for Agri-business to upgrade.

I agree that illegal immigration is extremely destructive.

American lifestyles would revert to what
they were fifty years ago, as fast food operations-dependent on
Mexican
immigrant labor which would be sent home under the groundswell of
nationalism an imploding economy would provoke, and dirt cheap raw
food
costs-would grind to a slow halt. Rail would displace sleeper cab
linehaul trucking as the preferrred method of moving freight in
truckload quantities-rail and LTL trucking would have a
renaissance,
along with their labor issues.

Rail is another example of a business that was essentially regulated
out of
business. It's far cheaper to move things by rail than by long haul
truck.
Who knows how much faster high speed trains might have come into
being if we
had not screwed the Railroads?

Trucking and railroads were both regulated, then trucking was
deregulated. The American trucking industry is built on the fact that
there are people willing to live and work out of a sleeper cab 24/7 for
what works out to very little money per hour and a lot of
responsibility. And the fact that trucks pay for about 10% of the wear
they inflict on the interstate highway system. If the JB Hunts and
Schneiders and Swifts had to pay Teamster wages and if all revenue
Class 7 and 8 vehicles were honestly taxed for their road use it would
make railroads very competitive, overnight.


Some would consider it a beatific vision. Others, a nightmare. But
I
think we would be better off.

If we could get a return to where morality was not something to be
ignored
as it is today, we'd be better off still. Not in the sense that we
should
adopt the same morality, but there used to be shame associated with
many
things that are now considered no big deal, or else subsidized by tax

dollars. There would be a very strong disincentive to be an unwed
mother if
there were government handout. Think about how businessmen were
thought of
50 years ago, it was, with some few exceptions, considered honorable
to be a
fair businessman who put out a quality product or service.


I think they still are, just that less of the successful ones today
are meeting both of those conditions. We mostly hear about Microsoft,
Wal-Mart, McDonalds, businesses that deal ruthlessly with not only
their "competitors" but with everyone else as well and put out
marginal, slipshod products. Of course the American consumer is as much
to blame as they are, but that's a different issue.