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- Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!destroyer!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!news.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!egl1
- From: egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy)
- Subject: Re: BUSH
- Message-ID: <1992Jul27.215533.22760@news.columbia.edu>
- Sender: usenet@news.columbia.edu (The Network News)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: cunixf.cc.columbia.edu
- Reply-To: egl1@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Elizabeth G. Levy)
- Organization: Columbia University
- References: <1682EE4D9.MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu> <1992Jul24.211142.27598@news.columbia.edu> <JASON.92Jul27161514@ab20.larc.nasa.gov>
- Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 21:55:33 GMT
- Lines: 41
-
- In article <JASON.92Jul27161514@ab20.larc.nasa.gov> jason@ab20.larc.nasa.gov (Jason Austin) writes:
- >
- > Why is it so hard for people to believe that the US is in
- >pretty good shape? People that work hard and develop their skills
- >have jobs, keep their jobs, and can find new jobs when they need to.
- >Everyone I know that is having a hard time don't want to make the
- >effort to find a better job or work at educating themselves. I've
- >seen how some people look for jobs, and it seems they expect to be
- >given employment simply by showing up to fill out an application. In
- >almost all cases, it is not a matter of no opportunity or oppression
- >by the rich, but an attitude that a good lifestyle is earned simply by
- >existing rather than working.
-
- I agree, we are in pretty good shape compared to the rest of the
- world. I'd just prefer we stay that way, for all of us. The problem
- is, the global economy is now demanding highly skilled workers, people
- who are able to think abstractly. It costs a great deal of money to
- educate someone at this level: small class sizes, a great deal of
- patience, scientific equipment that works, etc. Poor neighborhoods,
- places with a small tax base, cannot support schools of this level.
- So, the children grow up to work on low skill jobs. These workers
- have little time or opportunity to educate themselves to become, say,
- computer programmers or auto designers. Their salaries are too low
- for them to afford the wages, or even to take time off to go to
- school. They tend to get stuck on that rung. Same thing applies to
- their children. Their wages will continue to decline, because low
- skill labor can be found almost anyplace in the world, and someone
- from Singapore is willing to underbid them. The days of high paying
- manufacturing jobs are over.
-
- It's not a matter of the rich oppressing the poor. It's a matter of
- global economics. The well-off can continue to be educated to fill
- the high-skills niche in the economy. They can educate their children
- in the same way.
-
- The thing is, I don't believe we can abandon 4/5 of our population,
- the ones that can't afford this expensive education. We cannot
- continue to build high walls, hire a small armies of security, and
- hope the poor stay in the ghettos. L.A. should be a warning.
-
-
-