Reply #163: When I lived in European countries, only those students who

[JDPriestly]

excelled in grade school get a university education.

I agree that the culture in most American homes does not encourage learning.

But a great deal of it is due to the fact that manufacturing jobs have been outsourced.

I remember in 1985, the first time that I saw C-Span. On the program was a session of a committee of Congress discussing trade policy. That was the first time I heard about free trade.

One of the Democratic senators, a prescient man I must say, said, something to the effect that if we started free trade, in time, Americans would just be handing hamburgers to each other. That's all that would be left of our economy.

That's where we are. Don't blame it on ordinary Americans. They are trying to deal with the reality that the politicians have created.

What do you think that ordinary Americans should do? I don't think that ordinary Americans have very many alternatives to what is going on. American free trade policies combined with the overvaluation of our currency make it impossible for Americans, no matter how creative or hardworking to compete with people in underdeveloped countries.