DOES A GUY IN A MANUFACTURING PLANT HAVE AS MUCH OF A RIGHT TO EARN A LIVING AS A PhD IN A TAX SUPPORTED UNIVERSITY?

Bush on saving manufacturing jobs It's real easy for those of us who earn our livings in offices or on the highway of ideas to look down our noses at the needs of the people who earn their livings at the sweat jobs in steel mills, auto plants, making the things we use like washing machines and refrigerators. I have a much different take than most of the blog and intellectual community and it is this: it is the responsibility of our government and our society to have as many ways to earn a GOOD living as possible. The guys on the sweat lines were the guys I went to high school with, served in the armed forces with, and even went to jail with one time (no biggie, but I met some interesting people).

I have often felt that we need an international "Board of Equalization" to insure that everyone operates on the same playing field. This can't happen, and the loss of most smoke stack jobs is directly caused by our environmental laws, laws that cleaned up Pittsburgh (so bad you cannot imagine what it was like), LA (Pittsburgh with movie stars), and Houston, to name just a few. Keep in mind the river in Cleveland actually caught on fire one time, the Hudson had no fish south of West Point, and the Great Lakes now a sport fishing Mecca had no fish at all. So these laws have helped many of us while destroying lives of many. Third World countries don't give a shit about the environment, they care about feeding their populations, as we did in the early 1900's. What Bush is trying to do is worthy of respect and I hope he finds a way to succeed in this. I think that a tool and die maker has as much of a right to earn a living as some PhD. at a TAX SUPPORTED university; in fact more of a right.