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As much as I empathize with them, they are buggy-whip makers in the age of the Model T. I blame teacher's unions for blocking a full voucher system that would enable us to leap into the 21st century economy. Ever wonder why all these computer certification courses and tests are given by MS and Cisco? Because the average undergraduate in computer science isn't able to handle the work. We're also obsessed with making sure every child graduates highschool when it would be better to send low performers to trade school. College should be restricted to law, medicine or the sciences instead of Binge Drinking 101. Only a few with enough mental agility are able to make it.

Why do people need to make at least 30 to 50k to make ends meet? Look at the taxes taken out. Look at the cost of medicine skyrocketing from federally protected medical and pharmaceutical oligopolies. Look at the cost of real estate in zoning-restricted or rent controlled markets.

And people have to drop their taboos and do what it takes to put food on the table. When my company closed its NY office and I lost my management job, I temped for a year, making photocopies and moving furniture for $7 an hour. I patrolled housing projects in the dead of night in a security guard uniform for $10 an hour. It wasn't much but it paid the bills until I found something else. What's sorely lacking in our education system is discussion of personal finance and how make your own way in the world. Welcome to the post-modern economy. If you can't adapt to new technology, you're left behind. The US steel industry can't compete anymore because foreign steel uses more modern technology to make it cheaper. US steel companies didn't bother innovating because it knew the govt protected its market. IT jobs are going overseas because the market is correcting itself by seeking the lowest possible labor costs. On the other hand, some IT companies stopped outsourcing because we can't get the same quality, so the market is correcting itself again. If a Mexican illegal is making $1 an hour at a maquilladora on the border, that's the MARKET RATE of the job. I think we would eliminate unemployment overnight if we got rid of the minimum wage. Poverty is unfair but its NOT a human injustice that should be addressed by the government. In all societies, there will always be a bell curve of non-motivated under-acheivers at one end and a natural aristocracy of technical and financial elite at the other. We can't be a nation entirely of yeoman as some anti-federalists envisioned.

An economy of the future is almost impossible to contemplate. Look at how many people make a living through ebay. Look at how many non-existent weapons and equipment are sold for the Everquest online game in exchange for real cash. Holding a job is NOT the only way to get an income.

If a Mexican illegal is making $1 an hour at a maquilladora on the border, that's the MARKET RATE of the job. I think we would eliminate unemployment overnight if we got rid of the minimum wage. Poverty is unfair but its NOT a human injustice that should be addressed by the government. In all societies, there will always be a bell curve of non-motivated under-acheivers at one end and a natural aristocracy of technical and financial elite at the other. We can't be a nation entirely of yeoman as some anti-federalists envisioned.

Beautiful summary of free market fundamentalism. Most people might opt for socialism if this is the the only other option available. Hopefuly it is not true.

Your screed was rather lengthy so I only quoted a small portion.

Why did you waste so much bandwidth just to inform us that you're just another steampile who believes that it is "fair" to lower the American standard of living to the global poverty level?