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Advances in Technology and Economics

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 the science of changing public opinion. Though I do not
suspect
television to become completely obsolete within the next 20 years, I do
see the
Internet being used by the same political figures, multinational
corporations,
and upper 2% elite, for the same purposes. At this time, in the
Internet's
young history, it is largely unregulated, and can be accessed and
changed by any
person with a computer and a modem; no license required, and no need for
millions of dollars of equipment. But, in reviewing our history, we
find that
newspaper, radio and television were once unregulated too. It is easy
to see
why government has such an interest in regulating the Internet these
days.
Though public opinion supports regulating sexual material on the
Internet, it is
just the first step in total regulation, as experienced by every other
popular
mass media in our history. This is why it is imperative to educate
people about
the Internet, and make it be known that any regulation of it is
destructive to
us, not constructive! I have been a daily user of the Internet for 5
years (and
a daily user of BBS communications for 9 years), which makes me a
senior among
us. I have seen the moves to regulate this type of communication, and
have
always openly opposed it.

My feelings about technology, the Internet, and political process are


simple.
In light of the history of mass communication, there is nothing we can
do to
protect any media from the “sound byte” or any other form of commercial
poisoning. But, our country's public opinion doesn't have to fall into
a nose-
dive of lies and corruption, because of it! The first experience I had
in a
course on Critical Thinking came when I entered college. As many good
things as
I have learned in college, I found this course to be most valuable to
my basic
education. I was angry that I hadn't had access to the power of
critical
thought over my twelve years of basic education. Simple forms of
critical
thinking can be taught as early as kindergarten. It isn't hard to
teach a young
person to understand the patterns of persuasion, and be able to defend
themselves against them. Television doesn't have to be a weapon
against us,
used to sway our opinions to conform to people who care about their own
prosperity, not ours. With the power of a critical thinking education,
we can
stop being motivated by the sound byte and, instead we can laugh at it
as a
cheap attempt to persuade us.
In conclusion, I feel that the advance of technology is a good trend
for our
society; however, it must be in conjunction with advance in education
so that
society is able to master and understand technology. We can be the
masters of
technology, and not let it be the masters of us.

Bibliography

Where have the good jobs gone?, By: Mortimer B. Zuckerman


U.S. News & World Report, volume 119, pg 68 (July 31, 1995)

Wealth: Static Wages, Except for the Rich, By: John Rothchild
Time Magazine, volume 145, pg 60
(January 30,
1995)

Welfare Reform, By: Lawrence Mishel


http://epn.org/epi/epwelf.html (Feb 22, 1994)

20 Hot Job Tracks, By: K.T. Beddingfield, R. M. Bennefield, J.


Chetwynd, T. M.
Ito, K. Pollack & A. R. Wright
U.S. News & World Report, volume 119, pg 98 (Oct 30, 1995)

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