Hand,

A similar phenomenon occured in the US in the 1960s, A large portion of the higher paying blue-collar manufacturing jobs left the northeastern US and went South. The reason was the high union wages and higher cost of doing business in the northeast, as oppossed to the southern US, where there were much lower wages, eventually things level out…thats one of the advantages of the capitalists system, it seems slow to react, but eventually everything finds “its level” Once upon a time blacksmiths were upset because automobiles were putting them out of jobs. Recently in the US one innovative company gave Americans a choice, to order a product off-shore at a slightly cheaper price or pay a higher price for a US version, 80% of Americans opted for the off-shore cheaper version!!! Like I said, election year politics, If Kerry wins I guarantee you won’t be haering about offshoring anymore.
TTP

Hand 87-5

I’m sorry about your job, but off-shoring jobs has been going on for decades!! Just now, with the election this year in the US has it become this huge problem…..and don’t believe that all Americans are working at McDonlads making minimum wage, Don’t believe what you see on the Liberal US Networks…….Remember back in the 1980’s homelessness was a huge political issue in the US, One would think a huge portion of our population was homeless, then Bill Clinton gets elected and all of a sudden one never hears about homelessness. I’m not saying jobs aren’t moving overseas, but just the other day a report came out, not widely reported by the liberal media, stating that the US exports many Billions of Dollars more in services, high paying services, like law, design, engineering, than we lose to these jobs overseas that are being off-shored. Its typical election year hysteria.
Look at the auto industry, all those jobs to Japan!! same with electronics, but nobody complains when a Honda cost peanuts and ran well, same with Sony radio’s
TTP

Adonis,

Its called Great Britain for many reasons, but most importantly for this. Unlike some other European nations When the chips were down the British stood strong, they didn’t back down, and they didn’t let the Nazi’s cower them, or occupy them or blackmail them…..they stood alone while the rest of the world ran like little schoolgirls!!! that is why they will forever more be considered GREAT!!!!!
From the USA,
TTP

Dutchy,

Don’t fall into the trap that the US liberals are setting concerning all these jobs going off-shore. If you watch the news here one would think America has a high un-employment rate. Today its 5.6% much much less than Europe or Canada by a wide margin. Alot of these off-shore jobs are not high paying jobs anyway. Also its not just greedy CEO’s that are amking more profit, the price to purchase alot of goods are much lower so all Americans benefit..I just saw a very nice 19 in TV for $139 They used to be$350 20 years ago, ditto for a $59 DVD player……Eventually all manufacturing will move to the Far East where workers make $5 a day its been happening for the last 3 decades, but you don’t hear anything about it from the liberal TV networks when their candididate was in office, only now, its a problem, when they’re trying to get Bush out……Mark my words, in a few months the US job outlook will get much better and then the cry you hear will be about how these new jobs aren’t well paying etc etc
TTP

Dutchy,

Everyone seems to forget that Saddam violated a UN resolution for 12 years!!! made ther UN look like fools and Don’t forget that for the whole 12 years there were US troops and other allies patrolling the no-fly zones at great cost!!! Also there are alot of reports coming out about the UN’s “Money for oil” plan…Doesn’t look good for alot of people. Of course the whole thing is a mess, but time will tell….this will take along time to sort out.

Hand, Dutchy,

Back in the 1900’s some famous American, whose name escapes me, said

“The business of America is business”

It was stated in the context of staying out of European wars and conflicts……Part of the American phyche is business and commerce, making money…….it explains why we are prosperous, yet there may be many inequities. But You must remember that the vast majority of us like it this way, and don’t want or care for the government to get too involved in our affairs.
TTP
PS I know many will say money isn’t everything etc etc, we are not a greedy nation…jsut rather do things for ourselves then rely on governments who have a poor record of performance….So you are correct, part of the Marshall plan was to build a shattered Europe, but also to open a huge market.

Dutchy,

I only brought up WWII to demonstrate how quickly the Western Europeans were able to rebuild and become a prosperous and powerful economic entitiy, vis a vis Eastern Europe under the Soviets. Also why I brought up the Two Koreas, one a prosperous and democratic nation, the other a sad excuse…the differences are striking. I don’t mean to place Western Europe in the same light as Iraq, as if the US experimented with postwar Europe. I am well aware of the trememndous debt the US owes to Europe in regards to our foundations, our fundamental laws, and History. The US is essentially Europe….with a lot less bureacracy (at least it used to be) My family is from Italy!
TTP

Dutchy,
Excellent points, it seems our two viewpoints aren’t that far off. The sad fact is that in our politically correct world, we don’t feel comfortable offending others, but the facts speak for themselves, I read recently that there are 39 conflicts in the world right now, and 33 involve Muslim extremists….If you look around the world, this fact seems to bear some thruth. By the way, I’m sure if Christian extremists took power in the west, there would be similar problems…fortunately for the West most of us are content, feel we are being represented, and are well educated and aware of many divirse opinions…..there is no overidding resentment….that fuels this extremism.
Like I said before, if this experiment in Iraq turns out sucessful it may serve as a blueprint for others, this is Bush’s policy…only time will tell. But look at postwar Europe, South Korea versus North Korea, Japan, etc democracy can suceed and those facts are there for all the world to see, hopefully the Mid- East can see it too.
TTP