You know, when you mover further up the food chain, you don't do all of the work yourself. For instance, I worked as a mechanic for years, then owned my own garages and hired mechanics. Now I hardly have a screwdriver and drive new cars. What does that have to do with this conversation? Everything. We as a country don't have to do all of our own labor. As an economy, we have evolved to a rung or two higher up the ladder. As long as there are third world economies, I'd rather see us produce the way we do now, and leave the undesirable labor jobs to those to whom such labor is indeed economic opportunity. To put it another way, I'd rather sit at my desk and place a couple of trades, than spend two weeks under the hood of a greasy, hot, stinky, car. I'll just take the money from one trade and pay the mechanic to do it. That doesn't mean that if times get tough, I can never mechanic again, but rest assured UNLESS times get tough I WON'T. Same with this country and its evolution from a hunting, to a farming, to an industrial, and finally, to a service based economy. Next (if we don't self-destruct because of our abandonment of the qualities that made us great) we will probably be an intellectual capital based economy. IMHO, as always.
Matt |
