China Engineers Its Next Great Leap

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 12/31/03 | John Schmid

[RussianConservative]

Thank you...glad to be serving.

[RussianConservative]

For all stupidity of Carl Marx's economics (and politics) he had many good sayings: the best of course: "History repeats self the first time as tragedy, the second as farse." So which time we on now?

[ZeitgeistSurfer]

I recognize the intended irony, but there are some on FR who would interpret this literally and cheer this on.

It's true that a nation made up primary of lawyers would have nothing to divide amongst themselves - someone has to be making something that's worth applying a legal "rent" to. My point is that from a policy perspective, looks like we've made the decision to let our productive infrastructure die. No more "post-Sputnik" type education programs, no more protection of nascent industries, etc., etc. Therefore, the prudent young person contemplating 4-8 years of advanced schooling must look honestly at the situation and ask themselves "How can I earn a living?" An objective analysis of that question leads to choosing the legal profession. And yes, it will just make everything worse. But without a clear recognition of the problem and doing what many FReepers here have suggested, it seems to be the only rational choice. C'est dommage.

[chimera]

My point is that from a policy perspective, looks like we've made the decision to let our productive infrastructure die.

That's for sure. That was the point of my earlier post regarding placing our technological destiny in the hands of outsiders. Once home grown talent and capability are gone, its awfully hard to regain it. The key is to take steps not to lose it in the first place, to recognize that the policies and decisions that lead to it are wrong-headed and wasteful, that it's foolish, from a business and national security perspective to throw away for short-term, temporary economic advantage, what has been hard-won over the centuries by the back-breaking work of previous generations.

No more "post-Sputnik" type education programs, no more protection of nascent industries, etc., etc. Therefore, the prudent young person contemplating 4-8 years of advanced schooling must look honestly at the situation and ask themselves "How can I earn a living?" An objective analysis of that question leads to choosing the legal profession. And yes, it will just make everything worse.

The problem with the legal profession is much like that of the medical profession, only worse. They are net consumers of national resources. Little productive and innovative (except for those doctors involved in R&D, and there are a few) results come of it. Sure, they provide a service, but paying for that service requires an outside source of income for consumers of those services to have on hand to pay. That means private industry/business, or government. I think most of us here know where much of the income stream for the medical profession comes from. Lawyers? Well, as we discussed, once the lawyers sue all private business out of existence, I guess they'll turn to government revenues, and become administrative law experts.