From: geroldf@sdd.hp.com (Gerold Firl)
Subject: Re: US Empire (was: The British Lost!)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, San Diego Division
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 18:51:39 GMT

fester@island.COM (Mike Fester) writes:

>In article <1992Apr07.005316.19442@sdd.hp.com> geroldf@sdd.hp.com (Gerold Firl) writes:

>>Meanwhile, it seems fairly clear that the cost of maintaining the US empire
>>has done serious damage to the US economy. REmember Eisenhower? Something
>>like "for every gun that is made, a child goes uneducated?" We may have a
>>workforce that doesn't know a standard deviation from an interest rate, but
>>by gawd we got the smartest bombs I ever seen!

>One is forced to wonder how an uneducated workforce could produce something
>like the "smartest bombs I ever seen". On might also wonder why the US is
>still considered to have the finest university system in the world.

High tech is dependant on scientists and engineers. The people who actually
build the items are all trained in-house. I didn't sat they were stupid,
just ignorant. The US university system is the best in the world. 
Unfortunately, too many of the high-quality graduates have been sucked
into the unproductive world of DoD R&D, draining the commercial sector.

<the claim was made that the US would like to divest itself of the burden
of empire, but since 1933 hasn't been given a choice. Sorry, don't remember
who made this statement, but it wasn't Mike>

>>Haven't been given a choice? Not quite. The obsessive fear of communism
>>which drove much of the irrational empire-building is a symptom of the
>>attitude prevalent through much of US industry; an adversarial relationship
>>with labor and with suppliers. Both Japan and Germany have more of a
>>partnership between capital and labor. In the case of Germany this dates 
>>back to Bismarck, and was one of the primary reasons for her commercial
>>advantage over Britain fin-de-siecle. Britains educational system was 
>>clearly inferior to Germany's, making it very hard for GB to compete. The
>>US analogy extends into this area as well.

>One merely has to look at the number of British Nobel prize winners to see
>its "inferiority". BTW, the Japanese educational system was adopted from the
>"inferior" British model.

The image that comes to mind here is of a monarch wearing a glittering crown,
jewels well polished, and a moth eaten ermine. Sure, Oxford and Cambridge
are world class universities. The education they provide is superb. The 
problem is at a more fundemental level, at primary and secondary schools,
and in the class structure which restricts the options for students who
lack the proper accent. British technical firms are crying out for competant
technicians, machinists, and line workers. The Germans have a huge advantage
here. Their scientists may not be any better, but the support structure
which enables the science to get done is far superior. 

The same is true in the US. A minute fraction of High School graduates here
have studied calculus or statistics. In Japan our competitors can hire 
line workers who understand the fundemental mathematical principles behind
a control chart. We have to teach our workers, which costs money and time.
Plus, US workers have never picked up a learning culture. They don't feel
like it is their responsibility to incorporate new concepts into their
Weltanschaung in order to improve their employers' competitive position,
at least not until they have been convinced of the necessity of saving 
their source of livelyhood. German companies have even more extensive 
internal training programs than US companies, but they start with the 
advantage of hiring a better educated worker to begin with. If the money
we had sunk into smart bombs had been invested inb smart citizens, then 
this country would not need to wrap itself in the tattered flag of glorious
empire to retain some self-respect.

-- 
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Disclaimer claims dat de claims claimed in dis are de claims of meself,
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=----   Gerold Firl @ ..hplabs!hp-sdd!geroldf