Comments on: Tuesday morning round-up

By: Ron19

Ron19 — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:54:37 +0000

Again, http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/19/Obama-Energy-Is-Going-To-Be-a-Little-More-Expensive

Obama Admits: ‘Energy Is Going to Be a Little More Expensive’

We’re already paying 100% more for a gallon of gas, etc. What is it that we are getting for all this extra spending?

There are simple ways of measuring what the increase in costs are; is there any noticeble way of measuring the increase in benefits?

What is the New Normal going to be for us, our children, our grandchildren?

By: JKB

JKB — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:21:41 +0000

We have seen the gender-equal future and it is "awkward". At least in the bathroom. neveryetmelted…everything-must-be-equal/ I opened the door slowly. This was no single-occupancy restroom. This was a multi-stalled bathroom complex. Inside there were three girls, who all made awkward eye contact with me when I walked in. One of them shrugged her shoulders: “Yep,” she said, “we’re all in here together.” She didn’t seem too excited about the fact.

By: David Foster

David Foster — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:05:25 +0000

Also, it’s interesting to note that immediately after WWII, Britain had a very strong position in two emerging industries: jet aircraft and computers. The practical jet engine was created by a Brit, Frank Whittle (ok, the Germans were doing the same, but they weren’t in a position to do much with it after the war), as was the first commercial jetliner (deHavilland Comet) and there were all kinds of computer innovations in Britain, including the first stored-program computer, EDSAC and the first business-oriented computer, LEO (developed for a chain of tea shops!)

Yet these innovations did not result in what they should have in the way of a sustainable competitive lead for these industries (although Rolls-Royce is still very much a power in the jet engine business) I’m going to do a post on this subject after I research it. Part of the problem was bad luck (the Comet jetliner crashes), part was the smaller market compared with the American domestic market…but I suspect much of it was government policy and social attitudes.

By: David Foster

David Foster — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:56:59 +0000

I think what the Cal professor said about the British industrial decline…that it was due to class rigidity limiting the mobility of working-class people…is part of the story, but only part.

There’s an interesting (though not terribly well-written) book called “English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit, 1850-1980,” by Martin Weiner. The author puts much of the responsibility for the decline at the *other* end of the class spectrum…that the upper and upper-middle-classes viewed the status of various occupations as something like the following:

1 (highest)…landed aristocracy, possibly combined with high-level government employment
2…high-level government employment in general
(big step down)
3–banking and finance
(bigger step down)
4–manufacturing and retail trade

By: Bill C

Bill C — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:13:37 +0000

Hey Bookworm,
As may or may not know, I am a member of the Men’s rights movement (MRM). Right now there is a internal squabble about the direction with some insisting it become a mirror of feminism. This faction insists the MRM should insist on complete equality in the form of the Equal Rights Amendment. (They believe, wrongly IMO, that the ERA would end discrimination against father’s in family court.)
I remember well that one of the more successful arguments against the ERA back in the 70s was the prospect of gender neutral bathrooms. What is your opinion of the ERA/gender equality?