Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The kid gloves are off

I came across an excerpt of the video of Alan Greenspan's video on C-Span. The excerpt is only 2.5 minutes long, so I urge you to watch it before reading my comments about it.

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Although I watched this video about a week ago, it has taken me some time to gather my thoughts about it. Here are my observations:
  1. All that talk about the need for skilled foreign labor to keep America competitive? Just a smokescreen.
  2. All that talk about the need for skilled foreign labor to keep America at the leading edge of innovation? Just a smokescreen too.
  3. All that talk about how U.S. education is inadequate? Just a smokescreen as well!
It was ALWAYS ONLY about lowering the wages.

Th real irony is that Greenspan suggests lowering middle class wages as a way to REDUCE the class divide in America. This, from someone who received a reported $8.5M advance for his book. He is in his mid-to-late seventies: does he think he is going to take his millions WITH him to the afterlife?!

How about arguing for a living wage for those on the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder and reducing the class divide THAT WAY? I want to ask Mr. Greenspan.

What Mr. Greenspan and his fans (among them, unfortunately, the Democratic party and most of the presidential candidates) are working to attain is a society where they and their ilk live in gated communities while the serfs toil outside.

Whose American dream is this? Not mine for sure.

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