Technology

The microeconomic picture of the U.S. has changed immensely since 1973,

and the trends are proving to be consistently downward for the nation's

high school graduates and high school drop-outs. "Of all the reasons

given for the wage squeeze - international competition, technology,

deregulation, the decline of unions and defense cuts - technology is

probably the most critical. It has favored the educated and the skilled,"

says M. B. Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report

(7/31/95). Since 1973, wages adjusted for inflation have declined by

about a quarter for high school dropouts, by a sixth for high school

graduates, and by about 7% for those with some college education. Only

the wages of college graduates are up.

Of the fastest growing technical jobs, software engineering tops the list.

Carnegie Mellon University reports, "recruitment of it's software

engineering students is up this year by over 20%." All engineering jobs

are paying well, proving that highly skilled labor is what employers want!

"There is clear evidence that the supply of workers in the [unskilled

labor] categories already exceeds the demand for their services," says L.

Mishel, Research Director of Welfare Reform Network.

In view of these facts, I wonder if these trends are good or bad for

society. "The danger of the information age is that while in the short

run it may be cheaper to replace workers with technology, in the long run

it is potentially self-destructive because there will not be enough

purchasing power to grow the economy," M. B. Zuckerman. My feeling is

that the trend from unskilled labor to highly technical, skilled labor is

a good one! But, political action must be taken to ensure that this

societal evolution is beneficial to all of us. "Back in 1970, a high

school diploma could still be a ticket to the middle income bracket, a

nice car in the driveway and a house in the suburbs. Today all it gets is

a clunker parked on the street, and a dingy apartment in a low rent

building," says Time Magazine (Jan 30, 1995 issue).

However, in 1970, our government provided our children with a free

education, allowing the vast majority of our population to earn a high

school diploma. This means that anyone, regardless of family income,

could be educated to a level that would allow them a comfortable place in

the middle class. Even restrictions upon child labor hours kept children

in school, since they are not allowed to work full time while under the

age of 18. This government policy was conducive to our economic markets,

and allowed our country to prosper from 1950 through 1970. Now, our own

prosperity has moved us into a highly technical world, that requires

highly skilled labor. The natural answer to this problem, is that the

U.S. Government's education policy must keep pace with the demands of the

highly technical job market. If a middle class income of 1970 required a

high school diploma, and the middle class income of 1990 requires a

college diploma, then it should be as easy for the children of the 90's to

get a college diploma, as it was for the children of the 70's to get a

high school diploma. This brings me to the issue of our country's

political process, in a technologically advanced world.

Voting & Poisoned Political Process in The U.S.

The advance of mass communication is natural in a technologically advanced

society. In our country's short history, we have seen the development of

the printing press, the radio, the television, and now the Internet; all

of these, able to reach millions of people. Equally natural, is the

poisoning and corruption of these medias, to benefit a few.

From the 1950's until today, television has been the preferred media.

Because it captures the minds of most Americans, it is the preferred

method of persuasion by political figures, multinational corporate

advertising, and the upper 2% of the elite, who have an interest in

controlling public opinion. Newspapers and radio experienced this same

history, but are now somewhat obsolete in