I am 82 - born to a German craftsman. Before I became a professional historian, I actually trained to become a high frequency technician (radio and TV) in the early sixties. I was working as an apprentice and attended trade school. I never forgot the demand for precision work that was expected of me by my father and employer. I told my American students of that experience and demanded that their academic work needed to conform to the highest standards. Modern pedagogical ideology has erased those quality standards both in the USA and in Germany - and other EU countries. It will take a generation or two to rescue the western industrial economy.
Before I left academia in the 80's, I locked horns with my department chairman (math) over a departmental mandate to mark calculus final exams "on the curve," meaning that students who didn't do well were passed on in large numbers into upper level courses. After another encounter in which the purple-faced chairman banged on his desk with a fist and accused me of single-handedly depriving the department of students(by requiring that they demonstrate basic skills and knowledge to pass), I started to feel unwelcome. That university was a waste of taxpayer money. Nowadays it stands out as a fountain of graduates in "climate science" and "gender studies." The English department — I kid you not — is wholly dedicated to Marxism studies.
I didn’t bother going for a PhD since i knew I’d have the same sort of issues you recount. I did teach at the junior college level for several years before making another life-change in 2003-4, but I found outlets where I could still inform and mentor. I’ve found substack able to solve the problem of “publish or perish” quite nicely. I graded on a strict percentage basis for those courses requiring a letter grade. ESL work was done on a pass/fail basis prior to collegiate level composition courses. I was located in Silicon Valley, so I had lots of very smart people who needed to learn English. Those were enjoyable years.
I infuriated my Academic Dean when I refused to give student evaluations. Actually, I had had good evaluations, but realized soon that these evaluations were a major factor in grade inflation. I always left faculty senate meetings with the statement that if they were really interested in quality education they should abandon them. This four year liberal arts college where I taught for 34 years is now nothing more than a glorified trade school - a diploma mill.
As a child, many, many years ago, I put on a Superman cape and nearly jumped out of a window. Fortunately, my parents arrived in time to stop me. Children need adults around them who can prevent childish fantasies that can end badly.
As for your laudable desires to see an honest POTUS, may God hear you and help you, because the Outlaw US establishment will do everything possible to prevent it.
It is nearly impossible to have an honest high-level politician, because the career track in politics---what the Romans called, with inimitable bitter irony, the "cursus honorum"---is a program of negative selection. To be selected for promotion within party structure, a prospect must be ambitious, unprincipled, and subservient, the proverbial brownnose; either that, or he or she must be a scion of rich and powerful Cabal families, viz. Trudeau or von der Leyen.
And to be further promoted to real decision-making positions, the prospective politician must first be corrupted by Cabal-run specialists (Epstein was one such)---there must be kompromat, of a serious and devastating nature, so that the new "leader" will be fully controllable by Cabal/Deep-State handlers. Honest people will not engage in activities leading to such kompromat because they are principled; wise people will not be inveigled in them, because they see the trap. So the selection process only promotes those who are both selfishly amoral and foolish, a sort of survival of the unfittest.
This process was carried out, informally, for as long as there were elective offices; but there is a cadre organization that has been carrying out this selection on a massive scale for the last 30 years or so, the Young Global Leaders program of Klaus Schwab that has produced the vast majority of today's EU decisionmakers. The YGL added one more criterion: the promotee must be incompetent in his area of decisionmaking. This is, firstly, so that she does not fully understand the consequences of what she is instructed to do; but more importantly, so that he is completely dependent on guidance by his shadow handlers in order to conceal his incompetence. It is because of the YGL program's success that EU politicians are so visibly stupider and more clueless than even American ones, who were promoted via traditional Deep State channels.
I am now going to write something absolutely unpopular. As long as there is money, means of payment and privileges, there will be corruption and abuse of power in various forms. Only when everyone can go and take what they need without having to give anything in return will we have taken a decisive step in the right direction. Now emotions will run high. For example: "Communism is a farce. Everyone will be lazy and create nothing because everyone can get everything without work." .... But that can't be logical, because where nothing is created, nothing can be taken. It is a question of collective consciousness, education, ethics and maturity. There have always been small moneyless communes where this worked. Until someone within the municipality found other ways of corruption and abuse of office. I don't care about any ism. Call it what you like.
Despite all the unresolved problems and lack of solutions, should we still think about and discuss them? How long can humanity remain in balance with the technologies it has created, control them and use them for the benefit of humanity without falling victim to these technologies and/or using them to destroy the human species? In my opinion, there are far too many dogmas, prohibitions and taboos.
I love the Superman metaphor. As a kid I scarfed up every Superman comic I could get my hands on but even as a pre-teen I knew there were limits to being a pretend-Superman.
Trump is already in full retreat on the most consumer-sensitive Tariffs. According to CNBC:
"Trump has made a major new tariff relief. He has exempted smartphones and computers from China from new duties, CNBC reports. They were previously hit with 145 percent tariffs.
"Exceptions are also introduced for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar panels, flat panel television displays, flash drives, memory cards and solid state drives."
The technocrat Deep-Staters from Silicon Valley and similar venues (including, but not limited to, First Friend and his circle) have flexed their muscle, and Trump yielded. But they acted stupidly and short-sightedly, as it was largely their electronics, AI, and IT field that Trump's China tariffs were intending to reshore.
It is that group, not Trump, that has just surrendered to China, but they don't realize it yet; they have already scorned, or just failed to understand the implications of, the DeepSeek harbinger.
Reminds me of the book 'The machine that changed the world' - detailing how Japan revolutionised auto manufacturing - Quality, JIT, etc. completely surpassing the US Fordist system in efficiency, quality and management methods. US then bailed out its autos and attacked the Japanese financial system.
STEM is the foundation. China has it - and RF is working on it big time - as you have noted on this blog Karl. It takes time - Ireland started to push STEM in the early 1970s - 25 yrs later this human capital attracted FDI and fifty years later 33% of Irish grads are STEM. As RalfB notes, it takes generations.
Agree, except that Russia is more advanced in STEM than China, and has been for decades. Hypersonics, lasers, submarine tech, space tech, ECM, metallurgy---all these the Chinese learned from the Russians, and still have a lot to catch up. The Russians are lagging a little in AI, drones and robotics, but this is more a deficiency of volume than of advancement.
And you're spot-on as regards Japan, one of the last two Western (except that actually, Eastern) industrial powerhouses standing, along with South Korea.
Extremely well written and so true... so so so true... by the old proverb 'what you dont use you loose'... but in this case.... its not even don't use but have destroyed.... USA has become the Empire od death and destruction. You are 69 and I am 84 and both worked in ''industry'' and know and understand a bit about what it takes etc etc.... btw Japan built a working class that they went ahead and wrecked as fast as they could .... post 1998.... and are left with nothing... copying the USA so fast they lost their own culture and soul....
This one is one of your best writings/analysis... in my ''humble'' opinion. WELL DONE :-) :-) :-)
I am surprised by what you wrote about Japan, I thought they were still going strong in engineering and manufacturing. Do you have any links to details? AFAIK, Japan's only problem is the catastrophic shortage of young people.
Trumplethinskin was at his level best with simple jingles like Lock Her Up and Drain The Swamp, both Bullshit in terms of implementation like almost everything else he says or promises.
The SMO will be over in 100 days yet he can't even control the usurper Ukrainian President who's been plastering hundreds of millions into the walls of his European villas.
It's not only Putin-Russia who should insist on examining the root-cause(s) of its grief on its western border but the Citizens of US & Europe as to why most of their Representation are Foreign-Agents of Israel.
Reagan started the vile tradition of actors being leaders. Trump was acting to speak peace so he could bring war. Ditto illinskies. For an actor, politics comes easy, just read the damn script to sell the narrative then go do drugs or play golf ..
I was afraid this would happen, I don't see no peace nor hope for much future for America, hope I am wrong.
Trump or his ballteam asked for folks to build in America, why don't he ask the Chinese?
I don't care for it but they designed one half of the current SF bay bridge, it ain't fallen down yet...
And he flipped yet again. Apparently Team Trump didn't get what they wanted - China issued a predictable rebuke. So now electronics tariffs back on (soon), per Trump and Lutnick. This is going to be way more humiliating than I imagined.
As someone said of Trump in his first term, "Tweet. Cave. Repeat." It remains true today. As to midterms, in 2018 midterms 38 seats lacked a Republican candidate, only 3 lacked a Dem. (per Ballotpedia). The GOP wanted to give the House back to the democrats which they did. Trump surely knew. But I've never heard him mention it. Until 1994 the House had been controlled by dems. for 40 straight years. GOP much prefers to be permanent minority. As to Ukraine and/or Russia, in Aug. 2017 congress removed all Russia matters from Trump. Medvedev commented at the time that Trump been humiliated. Trump was forbidden to take any action re: Russia without first submitting the idea to congress and allowing 30 days for debate. Of course now Trump brags how he was the only president to ship javelins to Ukraine for the purpose of killing Russians.
What would be really revolutionary for the USA and other western nations would be to implement an actual Green New Deal.
I wonder what Trump and other western leaders will do when the whole Israel/Palestine issue ends in order to save face. The Dems arming and funding Israel already destroyed the reputation of the USA and its allies, and now Trump is the cherry on that horrible cake.
Maybe a truly comprehensive Green New Deal would help them to redeem themselves.
I don't know where RalfB has been living for the past 60 years but it's not America. American made manufactured items have always been junk. FFS, look at autos, appliances, electronics. That shit never lasted more than a year without needing repairs. Landfills full of that crap. Asian countries did not replace quality American products, they completely reinvented them with quality. And let's be honest all of the advanced
Manufacturing in America during the 1800s industrial revolution was STOLEN IP, as the Chase Act that protected foreign IP wasn't passed until the 1890s.
All this talk about quality American stuff is nothing more than the politics of nostalgia. Dumbass thinking that idiots like Trump use to get votes and then wreak havoc.
Remember 'built-in obsolescence', a quality scam designed to make purchasers buy an essentially faulty product again when it malfunctioned? Stems from profit-seeking as a prime determiner of commercial and industrial conduct. Producing rubbish on purpose. What emerges from these habits is the unfolding catastrophe referred to in RalfB's piece.
Regarding stolen IP, Italy knows a thing or two about it, e.g. the very famous case of the telephone (Meucci vs Bell) and the less known case of the personal computer (Olivetti vs IBM).
I am 82 - born to a German craftsman. Before I became a professional historian, I actually trained to become a high frequency technician (radio and TV) in the early sixties. I was working as an apprentice and attended trade school. I never forgot the demand for precision work that was expected of me by my father and employer. I told my American students of that experience and demanded that their academic work needed to conform to the highest standards. Modern pedagogical ideology has erased those quality standards both in the USA and in Germany - and other EU countries. It will take a generation or two to rescue the western industrial economy.
Before I left academia in the 80's, I locked horns with my department chairman (math) over a departmental mandate to mark calculus final exams "on the curve," meaning that students who didn't do well were passed on in large numbers into upper level courses. After another encounter in which the purple-faced chairman banged on his desk with a fist and accused me of single-handedly depriving the department of students(by requiring that they demonstrate basic skills and knowledge to pass), I started to feel unwelcome. That university was a waste of taxpayer money. Nowadays it stands out as a fountain of graduates in "climate science" and "gender studies." The English department — I kid you not — is wholly dedicated to Marxism studies.
I didn’t bother going for a PhD since i knew I’d have the same sort of issues you recount. I did teach at the junior college level for several years before making another life-change in 2003-4, but I found outlets where I could still inform and mentor. I’ve found substack able to solve the problem of “publish or perish” quite nicely. I graded on a strict percentage basis for those courses requiring a letter grade. ESL work was done on a pass/fail basis prior to collegiate level composition courses. I was located in Silicon Valley, so I had lots of very smart people who needed to learn English. Those were enjoyable years.
I infuriated my Academic Dean when I refused to give student evaluations. Actually, I had had good evaluations, but realized soon that these evaluations were a major factor in grade inflation. I always left faculty senate meetings with the statement that if they were really interested in quality education they should abandon them. This four year liberal arts college where I taught for 34 years is now nothing more than a glorified trade school - a diploma mill.
I’m thinking Marxism studies is a better subject than business studies. Wouldn’t we do well to give students some economic literacy?
I was going to say exactly the same, i.e. that RalfB's comment applies very well to the EU too.
that is a pretty scathing overview karl.. and i agree with the sentiment and conclusions too... yikes! thank you!
As a child, many, many years ago, I put on a Superman cape and nearly jumped out of a window. Fortunately, my parents arrived in time to stop me. Children need adults around them who can prevent childish fantasies that can end badly.
As for your laudable desires to see an honest POTUS, may God hear you and help you, because the Outlaw US establishment will do everything possible to prevent it.
It is nearly impossible to have an honest high-level politician, because the career track in politics---what the Romans called, with inimitable bitter irony, the "cursus honorum"---is a program of negative selection. To be selected for promotion within party structure, a prospect must be ambitious, unprincipled, and subservient, the proverbial brownnose; either that, or he or she must be a scion of rich and powerful Cabal families, viz. Trudeau or von der Leyen.
And to be further promoted to real decision-making positions, the prospective politician must first be corrupted by Cabal-run specialists (Epstein was one such)---there must be kompromat, of a serious and devastating nature, so that the new "leader" will be fully controllable by Cabal/Deep-State handlers. Honest people will not engage in activities leading to such kompromat because they are principled; wise people will not be inveigled in them, because they see the trap. So the selection process only promotes those who are both selfishly amoral and foolish, a sort of survival of the unfittest.
This process was carried out, informally, for as long as there were elective offices; but there is a cadre organization that has been carrying out this selection on a massive scale for the last 30 years or so, the Young Global Leaders program of Klaus Schwab that has produced the vast majority of today's EU decisionmakers. The YGL added one more criterion: the promotee must be incompetent in his area of decisionmaking. This is, firstly, so that she does not fully understand the consequences of what she is instructed to do; but more importantly, so that he is completely dependent on guidance by his shadow handlers in order to conceal his incompetence. It is because of the YGL program's success that EU politicians are so visibly stupider and more clueless than even American ones, who were promoted via traditional Deep State channels.
For a more in-depth treatment by an actual psychologist, read: https://gaiusbaltar.substack.com/p/what-is-wrong-with-the-western-political
Australia is completely stocked with these incompetent reprehensible clowns.
I am now going to write something absolutely unpopular. As long as there is money, means of payment and privileges, there will be corruption and abuse of power in various forms. Only when everyone can go and take what they need without having to give anything in return will we have taken a decisive step in the right direction. Now emotions will run high. For example: "Communism is a farce. Everyone will be lazy and create nothing because everyone can get everything without work." .... But that can't be logical, because where nothing is created, nothing can be taken. It is a question of collective consciousness, education, ethics and maturity. There have always been small moneyless communes where this worked. Until someone within the municipality found other ways of corruption and abuse of office. I don't care about any ism. Call it what you like.
Despite all the unresolved problems and lack of solutions, should we still think about and discuss them? How long can humanity remain in balance with the technologies it has created, control them and use them for the benefit of humanity without falling victim to these technologies and/or using them to destroy the human species? In my opinion, there are far too many dogmas, prohibitions and taboos.
How very depressing… One would want to crawl into a shack in the middle of an ancient forest or begin to search for some godforsaken island….
"You need a person who can destroy his own home without realizing what he is doing. You need a narcissist." Excellent analysis. Thanks for the link.
It's not hard to see who's pouring seductive honey on Trump's ego.
I love the Superman metaphor. As a kid I scarfed up every Superman comic I could get my hands on but even as a pre-teen I knew there were limits to being a pretend-Superman.
It's clear that some people haven't learned these limits even in their old age. However, that kryptonite called "reality" will eventually prevail.
Trump is already in full retreat on the most consumer-sensitive Tariffs. According to CNBC:
"Trump has made a major new tariff relief. He has exempted smartphones and computers from China from new duties, CNBC reports. They were previously hit with 145 percent tariffs.
"Exceptions are also introduced for other electronic devices and components, including semiconductors, solar panels, flat panel television displays, flash drives, memory cards and solid state drives."
The Outlaw Empire has already lost the trade war.
The technocrat Deep-Staters from Silicon Valley and similar venues (including, but not limited to, First Friend and his circle) have flexed their muscle, and Trump yielded. But they acted stupidly and short-sightedly, as it was largely their electronics, AI, and IT field that Trump's China tariffs were intending to reshore.
It is that group, not Trump, that has just surrendered to China, but they don't realize it yet; they have already scorned, or just failed to understand the implications of, the DeepSeek harbinger.
Hear anything on butt-plugs?
Just wondering how long I can hold on before ordering a renewal.
Agree with Commentator RalfB - very well put.
Reminds me of the book 'The machine that changed the world' - detailing how Japan revolutionised auto manufacturing - Quality, JIT, etc. completely surpassing the US Fordist system in efficiency, quality and management methods. US then bailed out its autos and attacked the Japanese financial system.
STEM is the foundation. China has it - and RF is working on it big time - as you have noted on this blog Karl. It takes time - Ireland started to push STEM in the early 1970s - 25 yrs later this human capital attracted FDI and fifty years later 33% of Irish grads are STEM. As RalfB notes, it takes generations.
Agree, except that Russia is more advanced in STEM than China, and has been for decades. Hypersonics, lasers, submarine tech, space tech, ECM, metallurgy---all these the Chinese learned from the Russians, and still have a lot to catch up. The Russians are lagging a little in AI, drones and robotics, but this is more a deficiency of volume than of advancement.
And you're spot-on as regards Japan, one of the last two Western (except that actually, Eastern) industrial powerhouses standing, along with South Korea.
Appreciate response. Your clarification on Russia noted.
Extremely well written and so true... so so so true... by the old proverb 'what you dont use you loose'... but in this case.... its not even don't use but have destroyed.... USA has become the Empire od death and destruction. You are 69 and I am 84 and both worked in ''industry'' and know and understand a bit about what it takes etc etc.... btw Japan built a working class that they went ahead and wrecked as fast as they could .... post 1998.... and are left with nothing... copying the USA so fast they lost their own culture and soul....
This one is one of your best writings/analysis... in my ''humble'' opinion. WELL DONE :-) :-) :-)
Thanks, but as I noted it was RalfB who wrote the autobiographical segment at the end. He deserves the cred!
I am surprised by what you wrote about Japan, I thought they were still going strong in engineering and manufacturing. Do you have any links to details? AFAIK, Japan's only problem is the catastrophic shortage of young people.
The Plaza Accords harmed Japan bigtime, and it never really recovered.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/plaza-accord.asp
Brief summary.
Trumplethinskin was at his level best with simple jingles like Lock Her Up and Drain The Swamp, both Bullshit in terms of implementation like almost everything else he says or promises.
The SMO will be over in 100 days yet he can't even control the usurper Ukrainian President who's been plastering hundreds of millions into the walls of his European villas.
It's not only Putin-Russia who should insist on examining the root-cause(s) of its grief on its western border but the Citizens of US & Europe as to why most of their Representation are Foreign-Agents of Israel.
Happy here to see so many honest voices one never heard of 2 years ago.
Shifting times
"Then you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
@RalfB
"But not before it makes you miserable"
Great article Karl, thanks!
Reagan started the vile tradition of actors being leaders. Trump was acting to speak peace so he could bring war. Ditto illinskies. For an actor, politics comes easy, just read the damn script to sell the narrative then go do drugs or play golf ..
I was afraid this would happen, I don't see no peace nor hope for much future for America, hope I am wrong.
Trump or his ballteam asked for folks to build in America, why don't he ask the Chinese?
I don't care for it but they designed one half of the current SF bay bridge, it ain't fallen down yet...
An illuminating analysis of the pipe dream return of manufacturing to the United States:
https://herecomeschina.substack.com/p/america-underestimates-the-difficulty
And he flipped yet again. Apparently Team Trump didn't get what they wanted - China issued a predictable rebuke. So now electronics tariffs back on (soon), per Trump and Lutnick. This is going to be way more humiliating than I imagined.
As someone said of Trump in his first term, "Tweet. Cave. Repeat." It remains true today. As to midterms, in 2018 midterms 38 seats lacked a Republican candidate, only 3 lacked a Dem. (per Ballotpedia). The GOP wanted to give the House back to the democrats which they did. Trump surely knew. But I've never heard him mention it. Until 1994 the House had been controlled by dems. for 40 straight years. GOP much prefers to be permanent minority. As to Ukraine and/or Russia, in Aug. 2017 congress removed all Russia matters from Trump. Medvedev commented at the time that Trump been humiliated. Trump was forbidden to take any action re: Russia without first submitting the idea to congress and allowing 30 days for debate. Of course now Trump brags how he was the only president to ship javelins to Ukraine for the purpose of killing Russians.
What would be really revolutionary for the USA and other western nations would be to implement an actual Green New Deal.
I wonder what Trump and other western leaders will do when the whole Israel/Palestine issue ends in order to save face. The Dems arming and funding Israel already destroyed the reputation of the USA and its allies, and now Trump is the cherry on that horrible cake.
Maybe a truly comprehensive Green New Deal would help them to redeem themselves.
Still need engineers for that Deal.
Do you mean growing pot?
Sorry , couldn't resist.
I think they ought to turn UkroNam into the marijuana growing capital of the world and give free pot to anyone who asks
100 percent correct!!! This article should be required reading in all american universities and in our POS congress.
I don't know where RalfB has been living for the past 60 years but it's not America. American made manufactured items have always been junk. FFS, look at autos, appliances, electronics. That shit never lasted more than a year without needing repairs. Landfills full of that crap. Asian countries did not replace quality American products, they completely reinvented them with quality. And let's be honest all of the advanced
Manufacturing in America during the 1800s industrial revolution was STOLEN IP, as the Chase Act that protected foreign IP wasn't passed until the 1890s.
All this talk about quality American stuff is nothing more than the politics of nostalgia. Dumbass thinking that idiots like Trump use to get votes and then wreak havoc.
Remember 'built-in obsolescence', a quality scam designed to make purchasers buy an essentially faulty product again when it malfunctioned? Stems from profit-seeking as a prime determiner of commercial and industrial conduct. Producing rubbish on purpose. What emerges from these habits is the unfolding catastrophe referred to in RalfB's piece.
Great point! That was the underlying assumption of US goods back in the day.
Nostalgia is the resting place before death.
Allow Trump to play with his conkers unless it leads to war.
Regarding stolen IP, Italy knows a thing or two about it, e.g. the very famous case of the telephone (Meucci vs Bell) and the less known case of the personal computer (Olivetti vs IBM).