[Off-Topic] Re: [ale] U.S. National Identity Cards All But Law

[Chris Ricker]

On Sat, 7 May 2005 tfreeman at intel.digichem.net wrote:

> Sorry to be so cynical, but I think the only thing the US exports more of 
> than we import are the US Army and the US Marines.

;-)

I think we still net export two other things:

* US engineering / designs / processes [1] [2]
* US "cultural" products [3]
	books
	movies
	pop music
	tv
	franchises and trademarks
	etc

Is it any wonder Congress and the various government regulatory agencies 
are so hell-bent on passing all the intellectual property laws, DMCA, 
etc.? Things like (to pick a recent example) the broadcast flag in their 
proponents' view will help protect the only production this country has 
left that's somewhat working....

later,
chris

[1] Look at, say, your iPod. It'll not-so-discreetly be labeled something 
like "Designed by Apple in California. Manufactured in China"

[2] Though the drastic decrease in basic R & D expenditure by most US 
companies suggests this won't last

[3] The actual physical product (book, DVD, CD, whatever) may well not be 
manufactured in the US, but the content going into it is. Though even 
that's getting exported where possible - for example, "The Simpsons" plots 
are written and the audio is recorded in Hollywood, but the actual 
animation is mostly done in South Korea