I was doing a bit of research into alternate energy technologies due to today's flap about domestic drilling. I found a story that dropped my jaw. Arizona has contracted a construction company in Spain to build and operate a solar energy plant in Gila Bend. The company will build the plant and Arizona Public Services will pay them $4 billion over the next 20 years for the power it produces.

Huge solar power plant planned in Gila Bend by Spanish company | www.azstarnet.com ®

The reason this story shocked me is, it is an example of America buying foreign technology to solve its energy problems. Can't we solve our own problems anymore? High tech solutions were something we used to develop and sell to everyone else.

In a way, it is not surprising. We have been falling behind the rest of the world in science and math performance for years. A large portion of our youth doesn't even graduate high school. Our economy has been gradually shifting away from manufacturing to information management and personal services. And, let's face it, we enjoy the good life.

So, to me it is not surprising we can't solve our energy dependence problem. Even if we could get past the politics, we don't seem to have the engineering and technical depth to build cutting edge energy infrastructure anymore.

RJ

My state just released statistics regarding high school graduates. Of those who enter high school, only 70% graduate.

We well when the main thing your economy produces is 'smiles' it is little wonder why there are bugger all Americans producing technology.

Unless they're finding new ways to smile at Customers living on borrow inflationary money.

Blame the less than pragmatic recrtuiters and employers who did not value technological skills and made it less than attractive for people to enter those fields.

I've been out of that world for a long time, but I'd think the problem lies a bit deeper with young people and what their school counselors had to work with. All recruiters do is attempt attracting what labor is available to employers seeking those yet-to-be determined skills.

You are correct about the US economy being service oriented. I recently read that health care shows the largest job growth in the US and is now the largest single industry employer with 13.5M employees. They didn't even mention MDs as the stress on education requirements was at the junior or community college level for entry purposes. Difficult to produce value-added goods in that industry to bring new wealth into the US.

You Aussies are facing the same dilemma when your currently easy to get to mineral resources and other value-added exports are depleted.

Teachers' Unions that prop up teachers that can't teach for shit certainly don't help the situation either

The mining states are recieving the majority of the benefit from the mining boom - as they should. The east coast is largely being hit with inflation and inflation in asset prices particularily fueld by the recources economy and growth in China (imports).

We have strong social policies that add a rigidity to the economy such that if there is money coming in we will always have a good base level of consumption. Even in the recession in the 90's (which I can barely remember) things were not that bad, if you had a job, you did alright. Frankly, we can slip but we would have to slip a very long way to be even comparable to the USA. We don't have the same level of inequality and free market principles are not treated religiously.

Recruiters and HR departments I have found to be focused on superficialities and the quick short buck. The tendancy of companies to not want to train graduates, and not to retain skilled and experienced engineers and other technical people IS creating a brain drain. Schooling is a seperate issue its not just about teaching people math and science but about there being jobs in those area's in my opinion kids go where the money is.

PLUS : the main export we've got is energy and we are not running out of that any time soon, we've got a large portion of the worlds natural gas, uranium and more coal than we'll ever need. With the growth of many economies in the region dependant on energy we're not running out of exports anytime soon. Then there is the geothermal sites, the relatively unexplored basins, and there is a basin in bass straight that has recently been positively revalued but I cannot remember the name. Our problem is more finding the expertise to set up the infrastructure to be able to export these goods. Apparently it is no small challenge.

We're certainly not invunerable but it is not as gloomy as a lot of people like to make out. Remember that Australians are natural pessimists. You are right though when our easy to get resources are depleted we will be in for a bit of downturn, but like I said we'd need to go a looonng way down to be where you guys are right now.

There are way too many social policies in place at the moment. Even if our wages were to fall to your level we still get healthcare, education and unemployment insurance virtually free of charge.

Why do you assume the US is the best at developing everything? I have no problem with buying the best product, wherever itcomes from. THats just smart business. I wonder, however, if we do have the same technology here, but its more expensive than importing due to our stupid tax system, labor laws, and environmental laws.

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http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

There's a big advantage for any global company on almost any currency but USD to build/locate in the US. Throw in tax incentives freely given by muni and state agencies to elect politicians for bringing new jobs to an area and the citizenry will support anything.

The Euro PPP versus USD PPP alone is enough to make the US a foreign shoppers paradise.

I think you're reading more into the post than is there. I never said America's technology was always the best. My point was simply that we used to build our own power plants. Why do we need to go to Spain to find a company to build a solar plant? Can't we do it ourselves? We've down-scaled quite a bit from the days when we put a man on the moon.

It's like changing your own oil on your car. It used to be something everyone did at home. Now most folks couldn't even find the dipstick. It's the same thing.

RJ

It is high time to look to other countries with higher standards of living, and higher levels of graduates. It is all too often the case where nationalistic pride tells us we can do it better, or why should we do things differently? This is America why should we have bilingual education, etc., etc. We have dumbed down America to bubbles on a test card. I'm sure many of us remember those in our classes that took standardized testing as a joke, and make pictures out of filled in bubbles. Education has been reduced to statistical test results, that can not show what children learn. Standardized testing should not be a standard, nor should it be a rule for gaging educational progress.

Education is not new, but for some reason our educational system has been consistently modified at the detriment of education.

Our approach to education doesn't work, and handing our money over to private schools isn't going to change that. Why can't the education in privates schools be made public?

I pay HIGH property taxes for education, which was once in the top tenth percentile in the United States; but now thanks to "No Child Left Behind" standardized "education," our schools are no better than the rest. I'm not paying higher property taxes to have my children be taught how to ace a bubble test, I pay hight property taxes to have my children educated.

Ronald Reagan led the charge to dismantle our once great system of education. It's time to push back the tide, and refocus our efforts ten fold on reviving our once exemplary system of education. Education must be based on proven principals and philosophies, and never be pinned to reactionary policies which conflict with real education.

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"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens."

-Thomas Jefferson

I just dont see it as a bad thing. Its more efficient for me to have someone else change my oil than for me to do it. They have the tools and expertise. I dont. Success is about managing your time well, and the 30 mins I spend changing my own oil is not time well spent.

__________________
http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

Not really. Changes to the tax code made the ROI period shrink from ten year down to five. This placed additional pressure to make a winner on the R&D people everywhere by having the venture capital people in this bind.

We have the people, we still reign on Nobels and such. Its another case of the government's actions having uintended consequences. In this case dire ones. You were right to say that we USED to lead the world in innovation. This killed that.

I suppose you and I look at things differently. Building solar power plants is not the same as contracting out the manufacture of ink pens or sneakers. Solar power is supposed to be cutting edge technology. It is something we supposedly want here in America to replace fossil fired power plants. It appears to me that you think that building a solar power plant is like building car. And we can either let Detroit or Tokyo do the job. No big deal. But I see a solar power plant as a multi-year, capital intensive project with requirements for new and innovative controls, materials, and a solid understanding of thermo-technology. For example, how do you superheat a fluid such that it can keep water boiling all night to generate the steam for your turbines? How do you insulate this mass of fluid? How do you design the heat exchanger so you draw off only the heat you need and not waste any during the transfer process?

My guess is we don't have that expertise here in America and that's why we had to import it from Spain.

RJ

My point is simply that we dont have to be the expert at everything, only the things we want to be. Usually the things that are more profitable. In the case of the US, our expertise is now in managagemeant, not neccesarily ideas or implmentation.

__________________
http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

add insult to injury , the chips in the panels will be made here, by Cypress semi conductor, meining we could have made this an all amercian affair as you allude, but hey, its the season. There will be illegals building it too, bet on it....wow weeeeeee

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Obama-e fungis nati homines....