$ from the late 1960s to 2000(Pulplogger)

The dollar, in trade-weighted terms, tripled in value from the late1960s to 2000. That tripling could explain much of our loss ofmanufacturing competitiveness, without resort to the standard"Americans are lazy & unskilled" stories.

I've worked withand taught American & foreign engineers for 30 years, and franklydo not see much difference. There are great ones, and lazy liars, inboth groups. If anything, I'd say the American engineers were slightlybetter on average (hell, we laid off all the poor ones long ago). I didnotice a moderately higher percentage of foreign workers were goodsavers. I think we have a (relatively) good educational system, awell-trained population who can be productive when they want to be, andI suspect we may be solidly competitive once our $ and pay scales dropenough.