Article: America Has Grounded the Wright Brothers

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message

The pioneers we celebrate today would be thrilled at the extent to which
flight has transformed the world. But they would also be shocked at the
extent to which our culture has abandoned the values and attitudes that
made
their feats possible. Where Americans once embraced progress and admired
the
innovators who brought it, today we want the benefits of progress without
its costs or risks, and we condemn the profit motive that drives
innovation.

Bullsquat. This opening statement pretty much ruined the whole damn article
for me.

American Innovation and Progress is alive and well, thank you. Try to say
that paragraph up there with a straight face to anyone who works for NASA,
Boeing, Cirrus or anyone working for Burt Rutan.

The point of the article was lost on me.

--
Jim Fisher

"Jim Fisher" wrote in message


American Innovation and Progress is alive and well, thank you.

That may be true, but I think the point of the article is that the pace of
innovation and progress would be much greater without the regulatory and
litigious barriers that have been erected since the Wrights.

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/tknoFlyer
__________

"Jim Fisher" wrote in message ...

American Innovation and Progress is alive and well, thank you. Try to say
that paragraph up there with a straight face to anyone who works for NASA,
Boeing, Cirrus or anyone working for Burt Rutan.

The point of the article was lost on me.


Other countries, notably China, North Korea, Japan, and
Ireland have built industries that thrive on production of items
either too expensive to make in North America because we demanded way
too much money to work in the factories, or because everyone here is
too scared to make something that might result in lawsuits by stupid
people who think there should be no risk in risky recreation. If we do
build them we have to charge exorbitant prices to cover liability
insurance against such litigation.
It's not that American (or Canadian, for me) innovation is dead.
It's that the process of getting good ideas into the hands of the
people is so difficult, cumbersome, and risky. In Canada the
government fee for the certification of a new aircraft design starts
at something like $250,000 for a light airplane. How many people are
going to look at that and decide to certify it in Eastern Europe or
South Korea? Transferability of the certification is much simpler than
trying to satisfy and pay, pay, pay. Anything built here is subject to
easy litigation. Anything built here is subject to wages of $30 an
hour and a strike every couple of years. Any profits made here are
taxed heavily.
How many machine tool factories are in North America anymore? How
many of the cars sold here were made here? Where were your sneakers
made? Your skis? Your furniture? Your bicycle? Motorbike? Tools?

Dan

Yep, you missed the point. There should be MORE people and companies - but
there are not due to collectivism and the like. (Or whatever/whomever Ayn
Rand believes is evil)


"Jim Fisher" wrote in message
...
"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message

The pioneers we celebrate today would be thrilled at the extent to which
flight has transformed the world. But they would also be shocked at the
extent to which our culture has abandoned the values and attitudes that
made
their feats possible. Where Americans once embraced progress and admired
the
innovators who brought it, today we want the benefits of progress
without
its costs or risks, and we condemn the profit motive that drives
innovation.

Bullsquat. This opening statement pretty much ruined the whole damn
article
for me.

American Innovation and Progress is alive and well, thank you. Try to say
that paragraph up there with a straight face to anyone who works for NASA,
Boeing, Cirrus or anyone working for Burt Rutan.

The point of the article was lost on me.

--
Jim Fisher

"Jim Fisher" wrote in message
...
"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message

The pioneers we celebrate today would be thrilled at the extent to which
flight has transformed the world. But they would also be shocked at the
extent to which our culture has abandoned the values and attitudes that
made
their feats possible. Where Americans once embraced progress and admired
the
innovators who brought it, today we want the benefits of progress
without
its costs or risks, and we condemn the profit motive that drives
innovation.

Bullsquat. This opening statement pretty much ruined the whole damn
article
for me.

American Innovation and Progress is alive and well, thank you.

Really?

Try to say
that paragraph up there with a straight face to anyone who works for NASA,
Boeing, Cirrus or anyone working for Burt Rutan.

There _are_ exceptions on the margin, no doubt.

The point of the article was lost on me.

Well, I guess then everything is hunky-dorey and we can continue our present
course. I'll keep that post of yours for your descendents.

Tom Sixkiller wrote:


Well, I guess then everything is hunky-dorey and we can continue our present
course. I'll keep that post of yours for your descendents.




My descendants will be perfectly happy with today's refrigerators,
aircraft, cars, Televisions, and cel-phones, providing that you
"innovate" some social structures that will prevent street crime, gang
wars, tribal wars, rape, poverty, inter-nation fences, and exorbitant
medical costs.

"Icebound" wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...
Tom Sixkiller wrote:


Well, I guess then everything is hunky-dorey and we can continue our
present
course. I'll keep that post of yours for your descendents.




My descendants will be perfectly happy with today's refrigerators,
aircraft, cars, Televisions, and cel-phones,

You think so, huh?

providing that you
"innovate" some social structures that will prevent street crime, gang
wars, tribal wars, rape, poverty, inter-nation fences, and exorbitant
medical costs.

Public school graduate, right?

"Icebound" wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...
Tom Sixkiller wrote:


Well, I guess then everything is hunky-dorey and we can continue our
present
course. I'll keep that post of yours for your descendents.




My descendants will be perfectly happy with today's refrigerators,
aircraft, cars, Televisions, and cel-phones, providing that you
"innovate" some social structures that will prevent street crime, gang
wars, tribal wars, rape, poverty, inter-nation fences, and exorbitant
medical costs.

I hope your descendants won't be as clueless and incapable of focusing as
you are (but I imagine that's how heredity works).

Yeah right - those things have been around for about as long as people
have... (crime, war, rapes, poverty, etc)


"Icebound" wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...
Tom Sixkiller wrote:


Well, I guess then everything is hunky-dorey and we can continue our
present
course. I'll keep that post of yours for your descendents.




My descendants will be perfectly happy with today's refrigerators,
aircraft, cars, Televisions, and cel-phones, providing that you
"innovate" some social structures that will prevent street crime, gang
wars, tribal wars, rape, poverty, inter-nation fences, and exorbitant
medical costs.

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message


Well, I guess then everything is hunky-dorey and we can continue our
present
course.

I nevah said that. Never will. But as long as progress and innovation
(P&I) are alive, yeah, we can "continue our present course" (whatever that
is).

The moment P&I stops, then nothing is hunky dorey and we will all die.

. . . All that said, I think this is a glass-half-empty/half-full debate.
We're doin' all right as a nation and a world.

--
Jim Fisher