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The Standard of Living Articles:
The Future
of Menial Jobs - "Although France, Germany, Sweden lag behind us
in computer and Internet use, they are ahead of us in the day-to-day mechanization
of life in ways that weed out the more boring and simplistic jobs. Indeed,
some Europeans say America appears almost Third-worldish because of the continued
presence of jobs whose skills consist mostly of standing around. It isn't
just video clerks that machines are replacing in Paris. Steer your car into
a French parking garage, and you will never see a parking lot attendant. A
machine handles it all. Other types of automation have become ubiquitous in
much of Europe. Hand-held credit card processors are standard in many restaurants.
Some gas stations are completely automated. The newest subway line in Paris
has no operators at all." Click
on link for full article.
Suburbs In Disguise - "A grand fraud is being perpetrated in America.
Across the country, developers and planners are selling repackaged subdivisions
as "new urban" communities. Billed as the modern equivalent of Charleston,
Georgetown, and "Our Town" all rolled into one, these are supposed to be places
where people of all backgrounds will be magically freed from their chaotic,
car-dependent lifestyles to reunite in corner cafes along civic squares and
lead healthy public lives." Click
on link for full article.
Mergers or No Mergers, It's Time to Re-Regulate the Airlines - "It
has been more than 20 years since President Jimmy Carter and Alfred Kahn,
chairman of the now defunct Civil Aeronautics Board, began deregulating the
airlines. It is time to face facts about this experiment: It has failed. Every
single aspect predicted by the advocates of deregulation has gone the opposite
way. Competition, the theory went, would increase the number of airlines,
increase the number of direct flights, make ticketing easier, and bring simpler,
and lower fares." Click
on link for full article.
In Praise of TV, From Someone Without One - "I guess what I resent
is having to be an adult. To have to be fully conscious and responsible for
my own actions. I still want to be age 10, where life was a room I played
in, without thought of where it came from. Television fits into this, or doesn't,
because, despite my affection for the medium, I can't quite work it into my
schedule. If I start watching TV again at night, when will I read that new
non-fiction book I wanted to get through? On the other hand, I dislike missing
all those neat new shows on the tube. It seems unjust that I can't do everything."
Click on link for full article.
Why We Shoot Each
Other - "The California kid who last month picked up a gun after
being teased was a manifestation of this society where every man, woman and
kid is on his own. I can almost hear that kid telling that to himself, as
he grabbed his father's gun. We Americans like to think of ourselves as valuing
family and community. But France and Germany have far greater protection for
families, and far greater respect for the rights of a community. It's telling
that Europe has strong limits on how corporations can use information acquired
over the Internet. We do not." Click
on link for full article.