TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
> > All figures are for 2001.
>
> I had different numbers for 2001 ...
Although economic indicators are important, splitting hairs over the
relative GDPs of countries that are at pretty much the same level of
development misses some crucial points about the success of various systems.
We have a habit of reducing all issues to money, as if GDP = GDH (Gross
Domestic Happiness). Europeans as a whole quit playing this game after World
War II, our at least quit taking it as seriously as Americans do.
Look around. All these countries have reached an economic level at which
food, clothing, and shelter are not an issue. After you've got the basics
taken care of, then you can move onto quality of life types of things, such
as education, medical care, and quality of family life. Or not. You can just
go on accumulating goods.
Europeans, and to a lesser extent Canadians, put their wealth into such
things as education, vacation time, and other quality of life types of
endeavors to a much greater extent than do Americans. European unions play a
big part of seeing to it that everyone shares in the benefits of living in a
modern Western society. Not all of these benefits can be measured by GDP.
There was a time when unions played much the same role in American society.
After all, it was unions that gave us the 40-hour work week and universal
public education. That was before unions, too, took up playing the
he-who-dies-with-the-most-toys-wins game of economics.
Bob Hooker
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Order RoboHelp X3 in December and receive $100 mail in rebate, FREE WebHelp
Merge Module and the new RoboPDF - add powerful PDF output functionality
to RoboHelp X3. Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Check out SnagIt - The Screen Capture Standard!
Download a free 30-day trial from http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/txt/twr
Find out what all the other tech writers, including Dan, already know!
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
