Ernie : No argument from me on any of your points. The only thing to add is that with advances in robot technology we can now produce all kinds of goods competitively priced with Chinese ( or other ) competition Consumer electronics is definitely in this category. I don't think this is the case yet in other areas like rare earths extraction, but in that department our national security needs are such that at a minimum we ought to be keeping small scale mining operations running so that we don't lose the expertise. Moreover, keeping it current would mean that at such time as low cost extraction becomes possible in the USA we would be all set to go. This is common practice in some other industries. The large scale coal strip mine in the state of Washington, a rare example of a mine that could be approved, keeps a skeleton crew on the job even if the power company can now get its coal cheaper from Wyoming. But there are enormous reserves at the site and no-one wants to lose the skills needed should, some day, it becomes important to reactivate the mine. Also a good idea to keep the equipment in working order. An only tangentially related point, but one with importance. As Arthur Clarke said years ago, most of the cost of hardware in Space is getting it there. Per ton, aluminum has a price tag that compares with silver or gold. In a few days a multi-ton NASA satellite is set to crash. All that tonnage will be lost. Suppose, instead, we kept one operational space shuttle moored to the Space Station. Send it up with a crew of 4, the next few Russian launches would only carry two people leaving one vacant seat. This would be so that the 4 person crew could be returned to Earth, one by one and allow the shuttle to stay aloft. What for ? To retrieve hardware in Space. For now, just put it in storage. Add a "warehouse" to the station. In it would be satellites now past their designed usefulness but valuable for all that metal and other hardware. The warehouse would also become a workshop in the future. Send up engineers and metal experts, etc, plus computer people, and make use of parts from previous items, fashioning them into new items designed by NASA for new uses. No need to lift 10 tons for a project, just a few engineers and maybe one ton of new parts to make the old parts useful again. The shuttle would pick up the old satellites every now and then. It would stay in orbit and be used like a pickup truck. In an emergency it could return to Earth, but that would be a one-way trip. Just get one more shuttle up there. By 2017 or so, the first next generation vehicles ought to be coming on line. Billy ----------------------------------------------------------------------- message dated 9/22/2011 3:32:18 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Hi Billy, On Sep 22, 2011, at 3:21 PM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: Excellent article. On the money. I agree completely. The subtext is technology transfer, about which I have many unkind words to say. This has been a bipartisan sellout of America from the time of Bush Sr and Clinton to the present. All in the name of laissez faire --as if the ONLY value that matters is the bottom line, not national security, protection of America's economic base, the morality of doing business with dictatorial regimes, or anything else. The problem, IMHO, is that is the debate has been framed as a choice between laissez faire and (effectively) mercantilism. I think a Radical Centrist argument would start by accepting that comparative advantage *is* a valid basis for investing decisions, but point out that these things can be nurtured (or squandered) based on both individual and collective action. Thus, the way to protect jobs is not to make imports more expensive and subsidize money-losing industries, but invest in making American workers and companies truly competitive and self-sustatining in the long run. Which, yes, means we need to pick winners and losers, but pick them rationally and transparently, not emotionally or politically. Which ain't easy... -- Ernie P. Fortunately the BHO admin sometimes does the right thing. In this case, while it is small by comparison with all of the problems now under way, the precedent is very important. Other fields need to be revived, like consumer electronics outside of computers If I had the money I'd buy Zenith back from the Koreans, for instance, and sell all kinds of gee-whiz TVs and stereo systems and you name it. Actually there are a few relatively small scale consumer electronics businesses here, like Emerson, but its time to reconstruct the industry, which never should have been lost in the first place. Billy -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: _http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism_ (http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism) Radical Centrism website and blog: _http://RadicalCentrism.org_ (http://radicalcentrism.org/) -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
