We Are All Spaniards

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

Personally, our hotel business is up 30% over last year. Now part of that
is the fact that we were brand new -- but do you REALLY think a luxury
suites hotel would be doing so well if the U.S. economy was doing poorly?

I see it too, in one of the areas of the country where unemployment is
still relatively higher (it's what you get for tacking the minimum
wage to COLA, IMO.)

I have a friend who is a jeweler. He's doing much better this year
than last year. That tells me that people are spending discretionary
income. Poor people don't buy gold and diamonds, or get their settings
repaired.

In my own business (we supply a niche of the manufacturing industry
with vertically aligned software) our cash flow is up quite a bit.

Don't believe everything you read. Anyone who is unemployed right now in
the U.S. probably have a reason to be unemployed.

No, there are still areas of the economy where we're struggling. IS/IT
workers in the Pacific Northwest and California, especially
"contractors", whose rates are half now what they were just four years
ago. After all those dotcoms (and Y2K) died off, unemployed middle
management and executives were a dime a dozen. Manufacturing, too,
though I've got it on pretty good authority that pattern shops and
such have seen an increase in business in the last year or two, which
usually means there will be an increase in manfacturing.

Even so, we can't forget that overall in the last 30 years there is a
*lot* more wealth than ever before, and the U.S. safety net is very
strong, IMO.

Rob

On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 18:48:16 GMT, Rob Perkins wrote:

give me some examples where or why people suffer (materially) more in Austria,
Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, UK, Australia than in the USA.

Whoops!

Should I have said "the West", rather than the United States?

no.

AFAIK, though, only Switzerland has a higher standard of living than
the U.S.,

in what respect?

with many of the EU countries otherwise in a practical tie
for that honor.

I don't feel honored.

Rob, who has lived in Switzerland...

#m
--
A far-reaching proposal from the FBI (...) would require all broadband
Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire
their networks to support easy wiretapping by police.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5172948.html

On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 18:50:16 GMT, Rob Perkins wrote:

Also, Europe does not have vast tracts of unused land next to cities to
parcel off into 1/4 acre lots.

Actually, they do, but they cordon it off for silly things like
farming and forestry. Imagine that.

What's silly about that in your opinion?

#m

--
A far-reaching proposal from the FBI (...) would require all broadband
Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire
their networks to support easy wiretapping by police.
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5172948.html

Bob Noel wrote:

otoh - it might be a symptom of idiots in the management of the
large companies.

Don't we know it in my family. The company my father worked for had no
senior management person who wanted to invest in a sales and marketing
force to grow their business. Far easier and less risky to sell the
division they didn't care about, letting everyone go in the process
("You're welcome to apply to the new owners!")

Such a lazy way to fire older people, in favor of existing management
and cheap young labor.

Rob

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote:

Not true! If your murder someone you might get fired from a government job.

But not if you have sex with the interns in your office...

Rob

Martin Hotze wrote:

On Sun, 28 Mar 2004 18:50:16 GMT, Rob Perkins wrote:

Also, Europe does not have vast tracts of unused land next to cities to
parcel off into 1/4 acre lots.

Actually, they do, but they cordon it off for silly things like
farming and forestry. Imagine that.

What's silly about that in your opinion?

He's being sarcastic, Martin.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.

"Paul Sengupta" wrote:

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...
Unemployment is
about 7%, most of it is white collar, and it really grates to have someone
try to
tell the world that anyone who wants a job can have one in the U.S.

My cousin in India wanted to move to Canada and get a job in IT.
His other choice was somewhere in Europe. I told him he's nuts as
the only only place booming in IT at the moment is India. He's got
a far greater chance of getting a job there.

He could probably work at McDonalds in Canada for more wealth than on
a telephone help desk in India.

Rob

In article , "Dan Luke"
writes:


I think the trick is to plant the seeds of freedom, and then
carefully, slowly get the hell out of the way.

That is our intent in Iraq. My prediction is that it will not work.
More likely, one of two scenarios will eventuate: 1) We will declare
success and withdraw and the government we installed will quickly be
toppled or 2) we will be stuck for years propping up an ever more
corrupt and unpopular puppet regime, mired in a no-win struggle with
terrorists and gerrillas. I'm praying I'm wrong about this, but history
speaks pretty plainly about what we can expect.
--

I tend to agree that the chances of success are not good, but the alternative
is a nuclear exchange between our children and theirs that will kill millions
of Americans and HUNDREDS of millions of Moslems.

There can be no lasting peace with Islamofascism if they join the nuclear club.
With the Soviets we faced a RATIONAL enemy with no expectation of rewards after
death. Mutually assured destruction only works with people who want to succeed
in this life and not the next.

So I think giving cultural change the best chance of working we can is a really
good thing to do.

Don

--
Wm. Donald (Don) Tabor Jr., DDS
PP-ASEL
Chesapeake, VA - CPK, PVG

Martin Hotze wrote:

"install a government that will do whatever we want them to do."

And what would you expect that would be, Martin?

Near as I can tell, the U.S. wants other governments to:

1 -- Not kill their own people (usually a conceded point)
2 -- Afford thier own people a certain set of inalienable rights (such
as those afforded the people in, say, Austria)
3 -- Not come over and kill Americans.
4 -- Trade with Americans.

Have I left anything off the list?

Rob

Dylan Smith wrote:
In article , Doug Carter wrote:

Neither crude oil nor natural gas have to be involved at
all. Solar panels or nucler reactors can supply the
energy to crack water directly.

And there's the rub - nuclear reactors, which the sheeple are so afraid
of! You can have the best, safest nuclear reactor design, that's
demonstrably less harmful by orders of magnitude than a coal-fired power
station, yet it'll never get built because people are too afraid.

Sadly, you are quite right; at least in the U.S. Japan
doesn't seem afraid of reactors, China may not either.
Perhaps they will become the hydrogen OPEC (OHEC?) of the
next century.