thedrifter
07-24-06, 08:02 AM
Article published Jul 24, 2006
U.S. must continue to work to keep its position of leadership
Ah, America the beautiful ... and America the prosperous. For some reason, because of July 4th, the Marines coming or Liberation Day, I find myself exuding patriotism like mad.
We always have problems with the United States over one thing or another. We get irritated with the feds when they give us millions of dollars for education and then have the audacity to try to tell us how to spend it.
I guess what we need to do is take a look at our sister territory, the Virgin Islands. Their governor recently criticized the U.S. House of Representatives for approving a bill that would create a federally appointed financial overseer in the territory. Gov. Charles Turnbull said that the bill threatens the territory's self-rule. The Virgin Islands finds itself more than $1 billion in debt. Don't the feds understand? Just send us the money, and quit trying to tell us how to spend it.
In truth, I'm pretty proud of our country. It is the best country on Earth and I'm happy to be associated with it and contribute to it.
Right now some lady is pregnant somewhere in our huge country. Her baby, when she has it, will become American No. 300 million, a new watershed for us. I remember, in my childhood, talking about 120 million Americans. And now we are nearly at 300 million. That is truly amazing!
Not only are we the best country in the world, we are one of the most populous too. Only India and China have more people living in their homelands.
Sure, the United States is a very big country. I've driven across it four or five times and seen the vastness. But there are those who say that the population growth over the past 50 years has been too much. We have allowed too much immigration. I'm not sure that I completely agree with that view. Immigrants, usually young people who are eager to succeed, work hard and bring real vitality to our nation.
Our space program, the best in the world, became great largely because we had the sense to bring in all those German engineers. We did beat the Russians to the moon.
A recent issue of Newsweek magazine carried a long, 13-page spread headlined: "How long will America lead the world?"
It included this line: "The United States is still the dominant force in technology, innovation, productivity and profits. But Americans don't quite realize how fast the rest of the world is catching up."
The special issue was complete with statistics, graphs and charts, all of which seem to show that America is truly No. 1. One thing I took pleasure in was the grading of the schools, especially the universities. It showed the United States was way in front, with 54 universities ranked in the top 200. China had only 10, as did Japan. France and Germany had nine each.
The article did warn that "America is becoming a post-industrial society specializing in consumption and leisure." That doesn't sound good.
It did note that the United States claimed a third of all technology patents last year, but said that other countries are catching up with our rush for the gold.
The magazine gave us 15 "ideas to recharge America", which included such things as spending more on research, seeing immigration as a strength, nationalizing health care and extending tax cuts.
One writer observed this: "It's pretty clear to me that in somewhere between 10 and 20 years the Chinese economy will eclipse that of the United States."
The secret to the United States' success? "You start with a smart people, an idea and out of that grow companies, jobs and value for shareholders."
Sure, that all may be true, but you also need a nation of laws, periods of peace and an economy that is fair to the little guy. You need labor laws and national resources. We've done pretty well so far, but continued progress depends to a large degree on a well-educated population, one that understands technology. I happen to think you need to provide an economy which provides hope and enthusiasm for the weakest among us.
Feeling a little crowded with the thought of thousands of Marines moving in, along with their support crews and families, adding perhaps 40,000 people to an already crowded island?
Take a deep breath and look at another island -- Manhattan. It has a population of more than 8 million, all living in an area that has only 22.7 square miles.
New York, incidentally, has some 35.9 million tourists each year. To run this place, which is 25 times the population of Guam, they have 51 council members and 39,110 police officers.
One thing we are going to have to do with all those young guys coming here is to plan, in conjunction with the military, a comprehensive sports program. I mean with 8,000 tough, active guys coming, we need a football league like we used to have back in the early 1970s. We need a basketball league combining locals and the military. We need more tennis courts, more bowling alleys and more car racing facilities.
Ellie
U.S. must continue to work to keep its position of leadership
Ah, America the beautiful ... and America the prosperous. For some reason, because of July 4th, the Marines coming or Liberation Day, I find myself exuding patriotism like mad.
We always have problems with the United States over one thing or another. We get irritated with the feds when they give us millions of dollars for education and then have the audacity to try to tell us how to spend it.
I guess what we need to do is take a look at our sister territory, the Virgin Islands. Their governor recently criticized the U.S. House of Representatives for approving a bill that would create a federally appointed financial overseer in the territory. Gov. Charles Turnbull said that the bill threatens the territory's self-rule. The Virgin Islands finds itself more than $1 billion in debt. Don't the feds understand? Just send us the money, and quit trying to tell us how to spend it.
In truth, I'm pretty proud of our country. It is the best country on Earth and I'm happy to be associated with it and contribute to it.
Right now some lady is pregnant somewhere in our huge country. Her baby, when she has it, will become American No. 300 million, a new watershed for us. I remember, in my childhood, talking about 120 million Americans. And now we are nearly at 300 million. That is truly amazing!
Not only are we the best country in the world, we are one of the most populous too. Only India and China have more people living in their homelands.
Sure, the United States is a very big country. I've driven across it four or five times and seen the vastness. But there are those who say that the population growth over the past 50 years has been too much. We have allowed too much immigration. I'm not sure that I completely agree with that view. Immigrants, usually young people who are eager to succeed, work hard and bring real vitality to our nation.
Our space program, the best in the world, became great largely because we had the sense to bring in all those German engineers. We did beat the Russians to the moon.
A recent issue of Newsweek magazine carried a long, 13-page spread headlined: "How long will America lead the world?"
It included this line: "The United States is still the dominant force in technology, innovation, productivity and profits. But Americans don't quite realize how fast the rest of the world is catching up."
The special issue was complete with statistics, graphs and charts, all of which seem to show that America is truly No. 1. One thing I took pleasure in was the grading of the schools, especially the universities. It showed the United States was way in front, with 54 universities ranked in the top 200. China had only 10, as did Japan. France and Germany had nine each.
The article did warn that "America is becoming a post-industrial society specializing in consumption and leisure." That doesn't sound good.
It did note that the United States claimed a third of all technology patents last year, but said that other countries are catching up with our rush for the gold.
The magazine gave us 15 "ideas to recharge America", which included such things as spending more on research, seeing immigration as a strength, nationalizing health care and extending tax cuts.
One writer observed this: "It's pretty clear to me that in somewhere between 10 and 20 years the Chinese economy will eclipse that of the United States."
The secret to the United States' success? "You start with a smart people, an idea and out of that grow companies, jobs and value for shareholders."
Sure, that all may be true, but you also need a nation of laws, periods of peace and an economy that is fair to the little guy. You need labor laws and national resources. We've done pretty well so far, but continued progress depends to a large degree on a well-educated population, one that understands technology. I happen to think you need to provide an economy which provides hope and enthusiasm for the weakest among us.
Feeling a little crowded with the thought of thousands of Marines moving in, along with their support crews and families, adding perhaps 40,000 people to an already crowded island?
Take a deep breath and look at another island -- Manhattan. It has a population of more than 8 million, all living in an area that has only 22.7 square miles.
New York, incidentally, has some 35.9 million tourists each year. To run this place, which is 25 times the population of Guam, they have 51 council members and 39,110 police officers.
One thing we are going to have to do with all those young guys coming here is to plan, in conjunction with the military, a comprehensive sports program. I mean with 8,000 tough, active guys coming, we need a football league like we used to have back in the early 1970s. We need a basketball league combining locals and the military. We need more tennis courts, more bowling alleys and more car racing facilities.
Ellie