Does the US Make Anything Anymore?

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

-- America makes things that other countries can't. Today, "Made in USA" is more likely to be stamped on heavy equipment or the circuits that go inside other products than the TVs, toys, clothes and other items found on store shelves.

-- U.S. companies have shifted toward high-end manufacturing as the production of low-value goods moves overseas. This has resulted in lower prices for shoppers and higher profits for companies.

-- When demand slumps, all types of manufacturing jobs are lost. Some higher-end jobs -- but not all -- return with good times. Workers who make goods more cheaply produced overseas suffer.
Interesting, considering the economic downturn...

On a similar economic note, I found Obama's remarks on the signing of the stimulus package to be pretty inspiring. 
For our American story is not -- and has never been -- about things coming easy. It's about rising to the moment when the moment is hard, converting crisis into opportunity and seeing to it that we emerge from whatever trials we face stronger than we were before. It's about rejecting the notion that our fate is somehow written for us, and instead laying claim to a destiny of our own making.
Yikes.


Draft neccesary for COIN ops?

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
So after a hard day at work off-roading, eating Waffle House, and hunting small game with pistols, I saw this little gem over at Foreign Policy: Bring Back The Draft?
I don't know how I feel about it yet, but it brings back these scary images of the Vietnam war. The issue gets more complicated when you introduce statistics like these, which lead a reader to one conclusion, and the actual experiences of some older enlisted guys who remember the Vietnam days and claim such statistics to be horseshit.

"Ashes to ashes, dust unto dust,
it may not run, but shine it must,
it may not work, but it will not rust."

Anyways....

Early Departure

Wednesday, January 28, 2009
So I received my orders yesterday, to report no later than February 28th to Groton, CT for ET-COMMs school. Not exactly within my ideal departure window, but the Navy owns me, so what the hell.

In other news, our man Obama is now the leader of the free world, and he inherited a pretty shitty situation, so let's hope he makes the best of it. He's off to a good start, un-fucking the financial sector of their bad habits (like buying a $50 million dollar jet, as Citigroup did after receiving TARP funds), but there's more to go - like lining up at least token Republican support, which may be neccessary to achieve some of his bolder aims. Already the Republican lawmakers in the house are falling in to support the party line, with exactly none of them voting for the new stimulus plan. With people like Rush Limbaugh and Hannity, though, the Republicans are just making it easier for us. I'll quote Harper's here:

"I’m not sure I understand the full Democratic strategy for building out the already substantial majorities in Congress. But I’m sure that Democratic strategists are praying that Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh remain as the guiding lights of the G.O.P."

Until the republicans can hatch someone like Obama to lead them into the new urban-dominated political landscape (perhaps Bobby Jindal?), they'll just have to settle for grumbling about things and protesting ineffectually, which might not be a bad thing after all.

http://harpers.org/archive/2009/01/hbc-90004289
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114016/State-States-Political-Party-Affiliation.aspx