"Two Face" Is At It Again....

By Number Six

Saturday, February 04, 2006 at 11:26 AM

Would somebody please take the mike away from Il Dippy? Please?

A cute piece courtesy of USA Today.

Gee, after pissing off his corporate handlers over oil, well, what now, Dubyass?

Are we sitting down? Grab something, I mean it.

"We shouldn't be afraid of global competition."

"We're seeing the rise of new competitors, like China and India, who are making great strides in technology," the president said. "In response, some people want to wall off our economy from the world. That is called protectionism. The American people should not fear our economic future because we intend to shape our economic future."

Okay, inhale and.....

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Never fails to amaze, do he? Part of the same party that regularly exports our jobs? Telling us not to be afraid of a little competition???

Oh, he gets funnier:

"To stay competitive in the world economic market, this country must invest in basic research, business innovation and give students a firm grounding in math and science."

Oh, like that darling "No Child Left Behind" stuff, George? Like that? All talk and no funds to make it go someplace?

"Rep. George Miller of California, the senior Democrat on the House Education committee, applauds Bush's emphasis on competitiveness. But he said the Republican-controlled Congress this week passed a bill that cuts $12 billion from the federal student aid programs."

(Emphasis mine, natch)

So, where are we? Hmmm. To date, starting back with Ronnie Raygun, it went something like this: Japan went on this kick about making stuff cheaper than anyone else could, and it sorta stayed that way. It hasn't slowed, these days the cheapest crap is from China, India, Mexico, and anyone else who pays their workers almost zip to sweat 19 hours a day.

Meanwhile, we American workers got shit out of our jobs, our money, our future.

Now, anyone care to guess which industry got hit the hardest? Textiles? Nope. Steel? Close, but not close enough.

Technology.

It all began back when the retail outlets started pumping out cheap TV's, cheap radios, and the cheapest electronics junk possible. Soon, the American makers of electronics equipment slowly, one by one, folded their doors and bid us farewell. And those who designed the very parts for the electronics industry? Why, they went overseas to make them, of course.

Technology: It's just about all made overseas these days, and at prices no American firm can touch, nor American worker....work for.

And our beloved Texas drunk thinks the key to "staying competitive" is to....do what, exactly? Oh, demanding we stay competitive...in....technology!

I got news for El Braindead: As soon as it's been researched, developed, guess where it's made? Iowa? Nebraska? Ohio? New York? California?

Nope. Beijing. Xian. New Delhi. On and on and on.

Go on, I dare you, call up, oh, lessee...Hewlett-Packard. "Um, where do you make your techno toys these days?"

TV's: China. Radios: China. Tires: China. Clothing: China. Memory chips? China. Motherboards for computers? China. Medical equipment? India.

So, why do we need educated workers to begin with? I can see it for the medical industry, for law, but whatever else for? What do we need educated workers for..if the stuff isn't made here to begin with????

See, it's like this: Someone has to figure stuff out, that's engineering, but someone else has to make the thing, correct? So, why bother telling us another half-truth, Mister Prez?

Sorry, to make a thing requires labor. That means skilled workers. That means manufacturing. You cannot be "competitive" just designing it here and then making it over there.

Hence, it's what we engineers call "vaporware". It looks great to dope-smokers in marketing, but apply power and it hurls parts in every direction. It don't work that way.

The real thing would be, of course, ways to actually generate jobs here across the board: Research, development, engineering, planning, procuring, manufacturing, shipping, repair and retail.

I know, that would take someone who's not a Republican, of course.