Well, the Roman Empire "Pax Romana" (aka booming Mediterranean economy) was only around for a brief 400+ years or so before they got shellacked by the Visigoths. The "Dark Ages" followed shortly thereafter (aka no economy), followed by the Renaissance period (the rebirth of the middle class) in Europe. The U.S. (in various forms) has been around since 1776. That's a mere 230+ years. Think we're starting to level off before we start our spiral downward? As Inge implies below, the growing gap between the "haves" and "have nots" (read: downsizing of the middle class) in the U.S. is not a good indication that recovery is on the way. So, the decline of the "Pax Americana" will leave, what? Who or what steps into that gap? Or are we doomed to repeat another round of "Dark Ages" around the world before another "light" breaks through somewhere... There are a number of us over here in the U.S. that share your concern, Inge. We hope to start doing something about that in November of this year. Dale Ritzen, CQA Quality Manager/ISO Management Representative Austin Manufacturing Services -----Original Message----- From: Hernefjord Ingemar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 2:51 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] An unfortunate sign of things to come... you may call it levelling, the US can't be the economy wonderland for ever. 35 million living in poverty is one sign of declination. The resources exist still, but inspiration and trust seems to be little shaky these days. 'The richest nation in the world'..richest on what? Not critisizing, just worried. Inge -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of R Sedlak Sent: den 28 maj 2008 18:39 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] An unfortunate sign of things to come... I urge all to review this article, it is a sign of what lays ahead, and likely the first of many such steps. It will affect us all in our industry, profoundly. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080528/ap_on_bi_ge/dow_price_increase Rudy Sedlak --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------