Thanks for your reply. But as this discussion seems to be sharply political, I guess we should probably move it off of the USMA list.
--- STANLEY DOORE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Jesse et al: > I didn't suggest mob rule; however, we have 50 gangs that police know > of here in Montgomery County MD alone. There were two murders a few > kilometers away in the county next to us which were ordered from a jail cell > in El Salvador. That's reality and not exaggeration and we are a suburb of > the US Capitol. Washington DC and Baltimore is much worse according to > police data. > As for taxes, the number of households in Montgomery County in relation > to the state of MD which file more than $200 k income tax returns has > steadily declined over the past years; however, the past two years showed a > sharp drop while the number of households which don't file income tax > returns is steadily increasing. Higher income people are moving out. > The new OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) Foundation has produced a $130 > laptop computer for kids which takes about 5 w of power. Try to get your > school system to provide a cheap laptop and software for English, math, > physics, science etc. Eight gigabytes can fit on a chip smaller than my > small fingernail. The education establishment won't allow such a thing to > take place in the US but the Foundation has just begun to supply these > laptops to less developed countries around the world. The establishment > won't allow learning Any Time in Any Place on Any Path at Any Pace. Only > brinks and mortar will do. It wants to maintain control. That's why it's > against home schooling, charter schools and vouchers for learning elsewhere. > The SI is now taught in the MC school system because we have a good > superintendent who took my suggestion a few years go to teach the SI in > science classes rather than in math classes, and to use the SI exclusively > in science classes rather than a mixture of English and metric. He has told > me on a couple occasions that he is committed to the SI. > Politicians aren't interested in Metric Only Labeling Legislation in > the US; legislation which the NIST has already drafted. Since so many > goods are imported, other countries are leading the US and determining how > much metric is used in the US. The media is against going metric. In the > 1970s Bob Greene of the Chicago Tribune said that it would cost too much > because garages and mechanics would need to buy metric tools, even though > they were already repairing foreign cars built to metric specs were all over > the US. In fact, US auto manufacturers at the time were designing and > building their cars in the US to metric specs. > . Tax & spend is the name of the politicians game. for both parties. > There is no restraint despite their smooth talk. Look at the budget and > rules and regs which they produce. > I've sat in many meetings of organizations and government councils and > the only thing they talk about is how to get more money out of the public > and corporations. There is no discussion, nada, about more efficiency, > value etc. only we need more money. That's reality. > I guess you haven't heard of the illegal aliens coming into the US. We > have about 15-20 million of them. They come here to send money back to > their home county. The second largest income in Mexico behind oil is the > transfer of money from the US by those who work here. It's not a question > of need for workers nor the quality of work - it's legality. > I used cheapest to mean less expensive; sorry for the poor choice of > words. Businesses do look for value and that's why they go overseas where > they can get value for less money. > Thanks for your comments. > Stan Doore > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ziser, Jesse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 12:52 AM > Subject: [USMA:40843] RE: The Rise of the Rest > > > > First off, let me add my "ditto" to the list of people singing the praises > > of Fareed Zakaria. His > > show on PBS has been amazing every time I've seen it. > > > > However, I think I have to respectfully disagree with some of your points, > > Stan. Comments follow. > > > > --- STANLEY DOORE <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> The statement that the United States will continue to lead the world > >> is not true. > >> > >> Military force can no longer control the world alone. > > > > No argument here. > > > >> Other nations have found that control > >> of energy by the US is key to controlling the US. Gangs and other small > >> groups are beginning to > >> take control of the US too. > > > > I think that's quite an exaggeration. The US still has a pretty strong > > government; it has hardly > > begun descending into mob rule as you seem to suggest. In a few > > particularly poor areas, there > > are some problems with street gangs (as there have been for decades, and > > as there are in many > > other countries as well), but to say that they are "controlling the US" > > sounds hard to believe. > > In fact, according to the first stats I found with a Google search, > > violent crime has been > > dropping steadily since 1995. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm > > > >> The US has failed to control taxes and overspending. US policies > >> have forced jobs and > >> production overseas by increasing wages, costs and unnecessary mandates > >> in the US. > > > > Here you sound like you believe the US to be a left-wing state under the > > thumb of a tax-and-spend > > government. I can't claim to have thoroughly researched all the details, > > but our president for > > the last 8 years is actually from the party that favors less taxation and > > government regulation, > > and that party controlled congress for much of that time too. My general > > impression (from > > listening to both liberals and conservatives) has always been that the US > > has substantially less > > government regulation than the nations of Europe. I have also been told > > that we have among the > > lowest taxes of any developed country (see > > http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=332116 > > for a slightly more detailed discussion). I could be misinformed. Feel > > free to dig up some > > numbers of your own if you disagree. > > > >> Education in > >> the US has failed to adopt more efficient learning practices such as > >> learning anywhere at > >> anytime policies, technologies, and the SI. > > > > I agree that education in the US needs to catch up with the rest of the > > world. But last I heard, > > metric is still taught in most schools in the US. It certainly was when I > > went to school. We > > just never use it in the real world for some stupid reason. > > > >> Before, the US could control production and demand the use of English > >> units. No longer. > >> The rest of the world will produce products in the SI metric sizes and > >> cut out the US to improve > >> their efficiency to lower costs. > > > > Actually, I believe the EU recently tried to tighten the rules regarding > > metric products, but > > ultimately changed its mind under pressure from England. I'm afraid it > > will be a long time before > > the US really gets cut out of the picture due to its inane units. That > > said, we are no doubt > > already losing some market share. > > > >> The US is not dong enough of this. > >> The US is moving rapidly to an all government communist type of > >> society where demand > >> increases while production and supply evaporates in the US. > > > > Again, this is exactly the opposite of the picture I've seen, which is of > > an increasingly > > conservative and overwhelmingly anti-communist nation in which almost > > everyone is deeply > > suspicious of "more government". The government has done nearly nothing > > but slash taxes for > > almost a decade, and I've never seen anyone asking for a larger > > government. That just isn't the > > trend I've observed at all. Could you be more specific about what makes > > you think this? > > > >> People struggle to get into the US to get benefits which they have not > >> earned. > > > > I haven't heard of this. Where did you hear that? In general, immigrants > > tend to do more work > > for less pay than Americans. So much so, in fact, that part of the > > stereotype of immigrants is > > that they work ridiculously hard all the time. That's one of the big > > reasons that > > anti-immigration groups are always pushing to get rid of them, because of > > this concept that they > > "steal all of our jobs, work for less, and drive down wages". The idea of > > lazy immigrants > > collecting welfare is one I've never heard of before. > > > > Here ( http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus/display.cfm?ID=45 ) it > > says that immigrants > > were 15% of welfare recipients before the passage of laws that made it > > tough for immigrants to > > receive welfare in the mid 1990s. This very informative page ( > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States ) suggests > > that about 10% of people > > in the US were immigrants somewhere near that time. If true, these > > statistics indicate immigrants > > were only 50% more likely to be on welfare than native-born citizens (and > > I would guess that this > > is because of their tendency to be poorer than native citizens). Today, > > that figure is probably a > > lot lower. And regardless, since they work harder and for less, it's hard > > to imagine that they > > make up a very large net draw on the system. > > > >> And, the government continues to mandate contrary > >> standards rather than adopt the SI. > >> As Tom Friedman says, "The World is Flat" and politicians in the US > >> have not recognized it > >> although they have been told. Businesses go where they can produce goods > >> for the least cost. > > > > That is not necessarily true as stated. Remember that things like > > geopolitics and tariffs on > > trade also have an effect on corporate choices. Besides that, it is false > === message truncated === ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
