Good thinking Mick. How about buying a CD from a local musician - one he/she has produced him/herself.


The worldwide economy is here because as consumers we only looked at the direct and immediate cost to us; not the real cost to our community, state, province, or country. And a result of this is that the US/Canada doesn't have much of a manufacturing sector anymore. Steel used to come from Pittsburgh and Hamilton, ON - now it comes from China. And one result of this is that a batch of reinforcing steel made its way into a recent project here, and it doesn't meet the prescribed strength specs. It used to be that when it had an ASTM number on it, you could rely on it. As a structural engineer this affects me directly.

Our provincial ferry system (which runs a lot of ferries as we are a coastal province with many islands) purchased it's newest ships from offshore - because the purchase price was less. But in the meantime, our society has to support unemployed ship-builders. What are the REAL costs of this approach? The new design layout as functional as the previous ones built here because the offshore designers didn't recognize that our society is different than theirs.

It's my opinion that globalization has only benefited the large multi-national corporations. Just my opinion so if anyone doesn't agree don't get too uptight.


Glenn