Reply #74: Oh, okay. Fair question. What I mean is this

[mikehiggins]

in so far as present jobs are concerned, whether they are factory jobs or white collar jobs, those particular jobs most likely cannot be saved. There are some things that can be done, of course, but you'd have to have someone else in the White House to do them right now.

You could require, for example, that any material or tools used by the United States military be manufactured--not assembled--here in the United States as a matter of National Security. We cannot rely on Japan, for example, to build fighter jets for our airforce. Pakistan cannot be relied upon to build the weapons our troops use in combat.

That is a huge number right there.

Similarly, you could require that any dataprocessing dealing with US funded mandates be done within the United States, again as a matter of National Security.

You could also require that any technology developed by any firm with financing or grants from the federal government NOT be sold to foriegn companies or nations. And when it is, the people who do so have to go to jail for a long time for treason. National Security? Yeah, again.

What this requires, of course, is a government concerned about the citizens and future of the United States. Since we've gone through decades of government run by professional politicians and have wound up in the state we are in, I'm more than happy to seek out someone who has not made politics his life to address the problems that have somehow come to pass under the control of those who did.

Jobs, health insurance, education. All of these were in trouble before Bush took office. They aren't going to magically get better by going back to the same old, same old represented by the political establishment.

I'm sorry if I haven't answered your question succinctly or clearly. It is a very big topic and a very big problem. Still, I'm convinced we'll have a better chance of dealing with our problems by moving forward with what we've learned from the failures of the past rather than sending good money after bad in a basically fruitless effort to go back to what was. Let's build something newer and better, and this time, do what we have to to keep it.