The USA needs to find new ways to make money;.

[.... callchet ....]

The USA can't compete with cheap world labor. The USA needs to develop energy or transportation or any other product that we have expertise in. The USA needs to retrain to battle this economic mess.

[NMDemDist2]

1. why don't you have a profile?? how are we supposed to know what

area you are in?

[.... callchet ....]

2. I am making an appeal for the country..

The country is lacking in offering anything to the world. We can't compete with 25 cent an hour labor. The USA needs to find something to offer the world to compete.

[.... callchet ....]

5. Sorry for the confusion, I changed the post.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. You and a few million other formerly hard-working Americans.

It's criminal what the plutocracy has done to the economy with their infinite greed.

I lost my job a looooong time ago...like Bill Clinton's first term.

[.... callchet ....]

4. Sorry for the confusion, I changed the post.

[Generic Brad]

6. Bake sale, perhaps?

Or we put the contents of the Smithsonian up for bidding on E-Bay.

[ThoughtCriminal]

7. Action Movies and New Snack Foods

We're good at those!

On the latter, Ive noticed that we seem to be slipping because we have run out of new flavors that the human tongue can distinguish. We seem to be stuck with developing new shapes, textures, packaging and contamination for the same foods.

[applegrove]

8. They need to get into the sciences like crazy. That and entertainment.

[highprincipleswork]

9. How does Mercedes operate 14 manufacturing plants in Germany?

I'm frankly tired of the "non-compete" meme. I believe that, especially in the United States, we can compete. No shipping costs, for one thing. Producing locally does have its benefits, for any industry.

How does Mercedes manage all their manufacturing plants in Germany? I do not believe their workers are willing to live at a standard lower than that offered to American workers, including those that are unionized.

Where I do agree is that the United States has to get back to making things of value. Enough of making money through money manipulation. We need to create value, prove value, and sell value. There are plenty of products and services of value that we have to offer, that can compete with anybody in the world.

We also have to get rid of the society of such rampant greed and inherent stupidity. There are so many wrong notions, since the time of Reagan, that are taken by so many as if they were facts. These must be defused, at each and every turn, by those who know better. And this includes taking back the media or making it free for true reporting again.

What a long laundry list. But not impossible. With high principles, including creating value, we will prevail.

[pampango]

13. Great post. Germany is also the leading exporting country in the world. Even with

Germany has a high level of wages, strong unions, and high level of social services. They " create value, prove value, and sell value" which is exactly which we should, and CAN, do.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

10. What's wrong with the way they are printing it?

[ColbertWatcher]

11. We need to find ways to hold people accountable.

We need to find ways to make our regulatory agencies as valuable as the TSA.

We will figure out everything else, but we have to have a way to protect the new industries and punish the corrupt.

[Waiting For Everyman]

12. It's like putting money into a pocket with a big hole in it.

We invented things, and they were made in Japan.

Then we invented things, and they were maded in China.

So we go into services, and they're done in India.

See the pattern here? It doesn't matter what we go into next, it will be the same. They even found a way to suck out the value in our homes, and ship it somewhere else.

It would be smarter to sew up the hole in the pocket.

[treestar]

14. Didn't the US start the computer stuff?

Seriesly, everyone wants to work in factories again making the basics, when instead we've moved up to the offices designing, marketing, and computerizing everything. We should be rich. Bill Gates is.

Every country has a domain and a web site and where did all that start? India?

We sit here whining that those poor people who answer phones all day for a living and do terrible jobs like telemarking are somehow hurting our relatively cushy jobs. Maybe they'd rather work in a heated/air conditioned office designing web sites or writing incomprehensible computer manuals all day rather than slaving away in a factory.

Everyone is hostage to computers; no business could survive without them, every business loses hours everyday to learning new software and computer stuff or having to figure out why it is messed up all of a sudden. All those people running their own businesses helping the computer unsavvy with computer problems are like dying of jealousy - if only they could work in a factory sewing clothes! :sarcasm: