Writing “Unlevel Playing Field” got me thinking, there is another issue that I believe presents a major drawback to the American people in today's global economy. As we see fewer and fewer manufacturing jobs (for a verity of reasons ranging from outsourcing to increased automation), we see an increase in the need for people to become more educated so that they can compete for a number of less physically strenuous, but more complex service related jobs. Yes, I am equating manufacturing jobs with “unskilled labor,” which seems to be a fair comparison coming from someone who works in a position that qualifies as such.
The issue isn't that I'm against education. In fact, I admit that I have a tenancy to evaluate a person's base worth to society based first on my own estimate of their intelligence, as ugly as that sounds (at least I'm honest). The problem here is that the cost of getting a decent education is prohibitively high, making it extremely difficult for people to justify the decades of student loans they will be repaying.
I have learned, however, that in some countries, a student would not be burdened by such insane costs. Of course, this could lead me to issues of constitutionality if someone wants to suggest that the U.S. federal government pay these costs, but state governments could without question, if they weren't already fiscally destitute. And yes, that too could lead me on another tangent.
So what I'm getting at with this is it would seem to me that another massive debuff on our economy is the significant lack of college educated people... arguably our high school diploma level of education is barely adequate, and many people are unable or unwilling to invest the little money they may have in what they may consider a gamble at-best. This coming from a non-college-educated person married to a woman with a four-year degree that has not been particularly helpful to her getting a job, yes I consider many college degree programs to be a gamble, and I'm too risk averse to bother with it.
So take what you will from my rambling... and maybe I'll come back soon with more to add.
