Comments

Eh Tu, Keith ?

Posted by: chris parrott on July 28, 2008

Hi, Keith. I met you in Vegas last year - you gave me a t-shirt. Your article raises some good philosophical questions.

It's similar to responding to a natural disaster like Katrina or the next big earthquake in California. Are we ready to respond immediately and provide a solutiuon capable of dealing with all of the relevant problems. When these problems face places like in C America, they certainly don't have the resources and we send them support. Ironically, we weren't ready for Katrina's aftermath, and the Bush administration still turned away foreign support (although over 1000 people died in the floods). Or should we set up colleges that specialize in emergency response so we have that capability within each region? hmm, interesting thought, esp when it would create jobs.

Well, if our GDP is in a crisis, are we capable of manufacturing exports? Is our current model that we manufacture in foreign countries working for us, while these same companies enjoy tax breaks from our govt?

It's a tangled web and would be so much easier if it wasn't for 1) corruption, and 2) the US leads by example, good or bad.

Posted by: Jim on July 28, 2008

Keith, US manufacturing moves to Mexico and China because the labor is cheaper, not because they are better trained. And we as Americans continue to support the cheapest product even as this practice continues to drive more manufacturing out of the country. There may come a day soon where there are so many people out of work, that no one will be buying anything and then watch our economy go into a death spiral. And we continue to borrow money (economic stimulus, housing bill) to prop it up. Training will not save american manufacturing. A complete mind change of consumers and manufacturers will have to take place, and I dont see that happening until we hit bottom, and we are not there yet.

Posted by: Tom on July 28, 2008

I agree. At best it is a cooperative effort between business and government. In reality, local governments have to work to keep their customers (the public at large and private industry) happy in order to keep them.

Posted by: Brad Neuroth on July 28, 2008

Businesses in North America have difficulties in spending money on educational or training facilities either privately or publicly. They are ripped off on taxes enough to pay for this already, even though the tax dollars are only shoring up the public domain which is in need of surgery. Another reason is why should a company pay for training their people only to have some competitor or other company steal them by paying a few cents more per hour and they are left with the tab. There is a simple solution which the Germans instituted about one hundred and fifty years ago and why they are still a powerhouse today because of it. We have this mental mentality of "If it is not invented here, its no good". Well good ideas from any source are always a starting point for your improvement.

Posted by: Paul Zepf on July 28, 2008

Keith:

You hit the nail right square on the head with this article. Our nation is becoming a nation that only supports enterprises that redistributes (in some cases steals along the way) wealth, not creates wealth, and we are totally complacent about it. This will bite us in the behind one day when we cannot manufacture anything, we'll have to import all our manufactured goods, especially from dictator and evil regimes. A good friend of mine was a vo-tech instructor in a high school and they closed down all vo-tech education due to budget cuts. Are all of our kids destined to be lawyers, real estate agents, financial planners, or insurance agents? Skills-based education is really looked down upon nowadays. This is a real shame!

Posted by: Glenn Whiteside on July 28, 2008

Here's the real issue;

Who is going to invest and not lose in any way in the future after doing so.

We have new products here to be made that could start an economic recovery if financed this year.
Who has the money to pay the professionals to do the parts of the plan?
Who can now reach into deep pockets and start a exportation system that will pay for itself within 3 years and keep sustained profits moving inside the USA for generations?
Who has the Capital?
We've been looking for years.
We have plans approved by banks and the United nations reps who have helped us develop it.

Posted by: S. C. Hallmark on July 29, 2008

If you build them, they will learn. In my local county, the local 'vo-tech' school had, "at one time" an active training program for electronics and advanced electrical controls. This has all been eliminated, due, administrators say, to lack of demand from students. How do high school students make these decisions, one might ask. Well, they ask their teachers and parents about prospective employment... We can only guess the kinds of answers they are getting, but I suspect that the tail is wagging the dog on this one. Why learn all this high tech stuff if all the local industry it picking up and going to for cheap labor and lax business oversight. What's the growth program for the vo-tech now? HEALTH CARE.

Posted by: Jeff on August 1, 2008