Well, I learned today that the 50 year average of consumer spending is 60 percent of GDP. Today, it is 70 percent. That is 16 percent higher than is the norm. Most of that was financed by easy credit--this is a quarter century of flat salaries. So, we increased spending without earning more. (Fareed Zakaria, Global Public Square).
He interviewed large corporate CEOs (IBM, Alcoa) and they noted the answer lies in better educated workforce. No argument there. But after 40 years in education from classroom teacher to president, I don't see that happening. Absenteeism, workload complaints, outside interests all take precedent over school work.
Those same people will complain in 10 years that they cannot find a good job. Hello. The world is turning into a brain-based economy. A strong back and a pick up truck won't do it anymore and too many of our students aren't getting the picture.
More than 40 percent of our Ph.Ds are foreign born (and can't get a green card to stay here). Our best students are the best in the world. Unfortunately, they are a small percentage of the total population. We best get an understanding of and support for education if we are not going to slip into further mediocrity.
Government (particularly the federal government) needs to cut waste and duplication, and the U.S. public needs to forgo its anti-intellectual bias.
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