Where have you gone Bell Labs, Jesus knows....

[trefoil]

Quote from nitro:

That trend has only one direction to go.

Economics isn't zero sum.

 

[NanoTick]

Quote from peilthetraveler:

For us to look like a 3rd world country, our GDP needs to drop about 90%. Per capita incomes in most 3rd world countries are $3-5k per year. Our per capita income is $46k per year so it still has quite a ways to go.

Per capita income $46k? That's GDP not income!
Every prisoner generates about $50k GDP per year.

 

[hippie]

Quote from MohdSalleh:

why learn Urdu, shoudnt it be Hindi?

Hindi? They have so many language there. Many of the Indians know little Hindi. A large number write better English than the average American.

 

[hippie]

Quote from nitro:

It used to be cool to be a scientist. Now, people are going into media studies. Before it was MBAs that everyone craved. No one producing anything except debt, an economy sustained by never ending consumerism.

You know, I understand why the US wants to be like Europe, where everyone works for the government and very little innovation happens. What I don't understand is why Europe is like Europe. Do human beings really only respond to external threats, like when Sputnik went up and sent a nation giddy on scientists? I hang out at Borders books store. You know what I notice? The Asian kids are studying Mathematics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Biology, etc..Know what the US kids are studying? They are sitting with tutors helping them beat the system - they are learning how to get high scores on ACT and SATs. What a disaster man.

___HOW___ does a nation get into this rut?

Sputnik? And now Tianhe-1A - China now has the world's fastest computer.

 

[1prometheus]

"Hollywood" and the entire entertainment complex has created a degenerative mental disorder in a large portion of the American public. If the entire industry dropped into the Sea perhaps we would have a chance to turn things around.

 

[hippie]

Quote from 1prometheus:

"Hollywood" and the entire entertainment complex has created a degenerative mental disorder in a large portion of the American public. If the entire industry dropped into the Sea perhaps we would have a chance to turn things around.

There is some truth to this. lol

 

[MohdSalleh]

Quote from NanoTick:

Per capita income $46k? That's GDP not income!
Every prisoner generates about $50k GDP per year.

hmmm

 

[MohdSalleh]

Quote from nitro:

It used to be cool to be a scientist. Now, people are going into media studies. Before it was MBAs that everyone craved. No one producing anything except debt, an economy sustained by never ending consumerism.

You know, I understand why the US wants to be like Europe, where everyone works for the government and very little innovation happens. What I don't understand is why Europe is like Europe. Do human beings really only respond to external threats, like when Sputnik went up and sent a nation giddy on scientists? I hang out at Borders books store. You know what I notice? The Asian kids are studying Mathematics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Biology, etc..Know what the US kids are studying? They are sitting with tutors helping them beat the system - they are learning how to get high scores on ACT and SATs. What a disaster man.

___HOW___ does a nation get into this rut?

Yah but the asian kids are nerds. In school, the jocks make fun of them and they dont get laid until like 40, while the rest of humanity propagate they will die out. Hot girls drive by and laugh at those bespectacled squinty-eyed midgets.

 

[IanMacQuaide]

Quote from nitro:

Sony produces 26,000,000 televisions per year I read somewhere. Most of those go to the US. And that is just one company, forget Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp, etc etc.

Maybe this is a conspiracy. Take over a nations airwaves, control the way they see themselves, sell it to the children, and take over. No war needed. Let's all try to be on "American Idol"

I dunno about a true conspiracy,...but...

A columnist once wrote, and this is very close to his exact words...

"You can't tell a culture what to do, but if you'll show them what you want them to do, over and over and over, no matter how crazy it is, eventually, they'll do it."