Is secession in the air? Texas used to maintain an embassy in London (now a steak house, so it hasn't moved all that far from its origins.
It seems to me that when the populations of the western world are going to be squeezed financially as a consequence of the abject failure of the politicians to regulate the financial markets, that what we are presented with are governments who want to raise taxes and/or introduce new taxes. As if we weren't burdened enough, the UK government is intending to tax road usage on a much wider scale.
Ironically, when discussing socialistic leanings, the people hardest hit by all these measures seem to be those least able to afford it i.e. the very portion of society the left leaners claim to be most in sympathy with.
It seems that most western governments have, over the years, become addicted to the income generation of the "service industries" and basically consigned manufacturing and engineering to the dustbins of history.I guess I'm old fashioned and certainly I am no economist, but I kind of consider the revenues of the service industry as "virtual" money while manufacturing is actually generating real money.
I would really like to see the UK and/or the US grasp the nettle and get bac to the basics of supporting a modern manufacturing industry that generates, demands and exploits the skills of its manufacturers and its engineers.
Left, right or middle, we can none of us expect much as engineers from any of these governments. While industry is good at importing the latest Japanese efficiency porgram or manufacturing tools, Kaizan, Orchid or whatever, it would be really really nice to see a government adopt a 100 year plan with its goal of establishing wealth health and well being from manufacturing. Sadly, most western governments have very short attention spans that reach no further than the next election and most promises last no longer than the morning after.
JMW