Dear All, When I read the article, Germany Speaks Out, at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/opinion/13iht-edhill.html?_r=3 I couldn't help thinking of the part played by the avoidance of publicly using metric system units in the USA.
Here are two excerpts where I have added bold emphasis to the parts I think are relevant to metrication: ## At the G-20, the Germans weren’t buying any of it, nor were many of the other 18. Instead, Chancellor Angela Merkel began lecturing back. The United States is the one that must take the necessary steps to increase its competitiveness, she said. The U.S. should not try to put limits on countries that have figured out how to get the world to buy their goods. In the task ahead, the benchmark has to be the countries that have been most competitive, not to reduce to the lowest common denominator,” she said. Ouch! — America being called “the lowest common denominator.” Her finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, was even more blunt. He described American policy as “clueless” and said the American growth model is stuck in a deep crisis: “The U.S.A. lived off credit for too long, inflated its financial sector massively and neglected its industrial base.” Ouch again. Germany — previously sneered at by U.S. pundits for its “weak and sclerotic” economy — lecturing America about how to grow its economy. ## Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
