You might rightfully point to the same with Japan going metric in 1960s.
(They started before WWII but no progress was made then apparently for war
related reasons.)
Stan
----- Original Message -----
From: "James Frysinger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent: 08 Jan 06, Sunday 13:50
Subject: [USMA:40002] Are we working toward failure?
I won't say that our incomplete metrication is entirely to blame, but it
certainly is not a helpful factor in our declining share of world trade,
the shrinking value of the dollar, and our being passed by the UK in GDP
per rata. Note this news article quoted on foxnews.com from The Times
(London). Hmmm, didn't the UK just recently finish all but a few items on
its to-do list for metrication?
It seems to me that our economy could benefit from the efficiencies of
working in just one system of measurement, namely the simpler one of the
two we now try to embrace.
With our shrinking participation in the world market we seem to be working
ourselves toward becoming and "island" nation and toward a minor role in
world economics.
Jim
Report: U.K. Set to Pass U.S. in Standard of Living
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Living standards in Britain are set to rise above those in America for the
first time since the 19th century, according to a report by the respected
Oxford Economics consultancy, the Times of London reported on Sunday.
According to the Times of London report, the calculations suggest that,
measured by gross domestic product per capita, Britain can now hold its
head up high in the economic stakes after more than a century of playing
second fiddle to the Americans.
It says that GDP per head in Britain will be £23,500 this year, compared
with £23,250 in America, reflecting not only the strength of the pound
against the dollar but also the U.K. economy’s record run of growth and
rising incomes going back to the early 1990s.
In those days, according to Oxford Economics, Britain’s GDP per capita was
34 percent below that in America, 33 percent less than in Germany and 26
percent lower than in France. Now, not only have average incomes crept
above those in America but they are more than 8 percent above France
(£21,700) and Germany (£21,665).
“The past 15 years have seen a dramatic change in the UK’s economic
performance and its position in the world economy,” said Adrian Cooper,
managing director of Oxford Economics. “No longer are we the ‘sick man of
Europe’. Indeed, our calculations suggest that UK living standards are now
a match for those of the US.”
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(H) 931.657.3107
(C) 931.212.0267
