Re: Re: Inch.Dia

On Sep 7, 2005, at 9:24 PM, John Luf wrote:

> The ASME has a problem right now of dwindling revenue
> and membership, as work has left the USA for offshore
> those people have not picked up support of the code efforts.
I think the reasons pre-date offshoring. US industry doesn't make things and doesn't glory in innovation the way it once did. And US industry doesn't support activities like internal research or specifically Code support. Some of the slack has been picked up by academia, but there's nothing like the same level of manufacturing development as when I was doing Code work in the early 70's. You can take a look at the type of participation that the ASME has drawn from US industry at all levels and you'll find increasing foreign and academic members and decreasing industrial members. This will only get worse becasue engineering employment in US industry, where the ASME draws its young members, is dropping off as manufacturing becomes less fashionable. The ASME is in serious trouble as it's evolved into sort of techno- old boys club.

Political and industrial leadership in this country evidently bought into the notion that we can remain great by simply buying other people's stuff low and selling high. We don't make consumer electronics any more, our steel industry no longer leads the world, our auto industry can only compete by discounting its prices until they lose money and we can't support a domestic clothing or textile industry. I heard the other day that the US hasn't built a new refinery since the 1970's. Low wages have become far more important than industrial development for corporate America--I'm inclined to believe that we're simply stampeding to the bottom of the barrel.

Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant at chrisw@skypoint.com | this distance" (last words of Gen.

.......................................| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania