[Superman]

I do really appreciate the question, dd. I'm wondering if this question sailed over everyone's heads (no, I'm not suggesting I'm smarter than anyone). Here's my response: I'm not smart enough to foresee what's going to happen. But I think I see aspects of what's happening. I'm a compensation analyst, in part. Labor relations, you know. And it seems to me that we've got workers here troubleshooting computer systems over the phone, for $14 per hour. Then someone noticed that folks in India can do that for $1 per hour. So, those jobs float over there and our $14 guy becomes part of competition's legacy.

So, how do we solve the problem? Well, Americans have always been inventors. In Japan, they do an excellent job of marketing our inventions, but America is where stuff gets devised in the first place. Unfortunately, intellectual property is hard to protect internationally. So, inventions will be stolen. Still, if you're inventing new stuff fast enough, then you'll always have stuff that has yet to be stolen/marketed.

Also, Americans are managers. We've got a fair grip on first place (or nearly so) in the world at plain "management." But, those clever Asians are pretty darned smart and competitive.

So, what I am saying is that, in the face of a very unknown future, and in the throes of a current attack on our lifestyle and prominent position in the world economic order, what are our options in terms of response/defense. We could pass tarifs. Yawn. We could file lawsuits. Giggle. We could learn how to enjoy cold showers and eat insects, and practice our phone voices. Or maybe we could fight for our economic lives by becoming and staying smarter, better informed, with better thinking tools, than the other guys.

I think that's what we've got to do. We've got to prepare ourselves to stay one step ahead of a very competitive world. Particularly those clever Asians who come here and kick our asses in college classes.

And trust me on this one: The world's financial center in twenty years will be located in China. Guaranteed. It always has followed the manufacturing center, and that's what they're going to be.