A Facebook post of mine this morning, which stimulated some agreement (read: a handful of people clicked "like"; but I'll take it). And, as most FB threads go, it then went sideways into some ranting about how much subway tokens and pizza costs now. So I figure I'd post to a broader (in theory) audience. (Not the stuff about the subway tokens and pizza.) This is in connection to a Thomas Friedman New York Times op-ed column, whose piece I feel really nailed it, link...
My FB remarks: "You want to know where American wages are going? This is where they are
going [ref: Friedman article]. You want to put more income into the average
American's hands? Then we need to give them the skills worth paying
for. McDonalds workers are not going to get the $15/hr they demand.
Because they are not worth it. No offense. It is a minimum wage
skill.
"Math, science should dominate K-12. Universities need to stop
preparing young adults for the 19th Century (it would also be nice if
that not-really-fantastic-anyway undergrad degree didn't cost a kidney,
each year). The Bronte sisters or Wordsworth are not going to help them
in the 21st. We need more engineers and physicists. We need to
prepare ourselves to compete with Klingons and Romulans, not Ottomans
and Prussians. Flipping burgers or digging ditches is hard, honest
work. The only job to be ashamed of is the one not done to the best of
your ability. And for doing your best, you will be compensated to the
best of your ability...
"... Friedman is a credible voice to me. Because he is able to take both
ideologies to task - not always criticizing one party v. the other.
His voice and its like should be paid attention to. Not the ones who
simply exist to promote one camp v. the other. Those types are in our
way. Move them aside...
"... I mean, I know we can do good things here. The handful of my friends
that read this thread and clicked 'like' are across the political
spectrum, for instance. So where there is agreement, let's build on
that.
"1) Realign educational goals, 2) commit govt
expenditure toward 21st C. infrastructure rebuild and 3) public-private
partnerships to nurture new technologies and (when they have legs)
release them as new private industries. I think both the capitalist and
socialist (or whatever other labels we might use for each other) can
rally around these goals. And I think we can also readjust our tax
codes and social subsidies to make them more efficient, affordable, bringing
down debts along the way. There are credible, bipartisan plans in Washington that address this.
"That's the best pathway for our success and
survival. It will hand the strongest America ever to the next
generation, in my view. And simply embarking down that path today will
immediately improve our social psychology, jump-starting investment and
jobs. The only thing standing in the way of all of that, is the will to
be disagreeable."
If you agree with my sentiments here, please share this with your elected representatives and/or favorite pundits. They are the ones who can change the social attitude, focus and thus, coarse of our nation. You are the ones who will hold them to it.
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