Jed wrote; > "China now graduates four times as many engineers as the United States, > while the European Union countries graduate three times as many. At the > same time, the US lead is slipping in technology patents and science and > engineering doctoral degrees. Emerging nations are also becoming adept at > capitalizing on technologies invented in the developed world." > As teenagers say: Well, duh.
Well, duh, indeed. Don't you want to know why? And no, it's not the ineffectual and badly aimed Homeland Security Act. It's lawyers. In order to have a market for engineers, you have to make something. In order to make something you need a factory. And as we all have come to learn, that's just not nice. We have read for more than a hundred years now in the popular press how evil industry and industrialists are. So-called environmentalists have come to use the word "industry" as an epithet. Naturally, any corporation or individual who actually makes something should be sued for something, anything. And since that is usually what happens, there are fewer manufacturers and hence a dwindling demand for engineers. Furthermore, engineers are often underemployed, can't get paid what they're worth. Lawyers are getting all the money and engineers aren't. I currently employ three engineers (chemical, mechanical, electrical) in jobs that don't require their skills just because they can't get employment in their chosen fields. My son goes to a public (state school, for you Brits) elementary school with very high academic standards, quite unusual for the Los Angeles Unified School District, but not too surprising when you consider that there probably isn't a house in the neighborhood worth less than $2 million. I would estimate that, except for a sprinkling of actors and other entertainment types, at least 80% of the parents are lawyers. Both parents. When I meet these creatures in a social situation, I just have to bite my tongue. "Hello, I'm little Diana's father, Bob, and this is my wife, Judge Martha. What law firm are you with?" I'm not exaggerating. I just want to explode. When these folks learn that I actually make things and sell them for a living, they just look mortified. I can't help but wonder when I'm in a room full of these lying vile snakes, how many jobs they've destroyed, how many lives they've ruined. And they look so nice, so proper, so upstanding. In the last 20 years, most of the suppliers I buy raw materials from have been sued out of business, and I am now forced to buy from foreign companies. At one time, I was willing to pay more, within reason, for domestic supply, but now that option has been removed. And for those of you Vorts from the Michael Moore, Ted Rall end of the political spectrum, who continue to insult and offend those who may not agree with you, consider the following. Three or four years ago, in the Los Angeles Times, the president of the California Trial Lawyers Ass'n was quoted as saying, "We own the Democratic Party, it's ours." This was a public statement, not some back room comment. They are ostensibly quite proud of this. You know, it might be a good idea not to alienate potential allies in the quest for alternate sources of energy, just because you disagree with them politically. M. _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web!
