I was taught in school that Thomas Edison invented light. Of course, since then I’ve learned that he didn’t actually “invent” light but instead incandescent light. Historians now dispute that fact too and there are several other names associated with the invention of the incandescent light bulb. Recently, with the evolution of other, more energy-efficient forms of light, the incandescent light bulb is being phased out; going the way of transistor radios and big fat televisions. General Electric, a company founded by Edison and still American owned; the last of the incandescent light bulb manufacturers has said it will not be producing them any more. Several years from now, children may not even learn about Edison and his light bulb. That lesson will probably be replaced by who invented the computer, whoever that may have been. I guess that’s progress.
What isn’t progress is the manufacture of these inventions in places other than the United States. This country, at one time manufactured everything, and put allot of people to work. Cars, trains and planes were all ours at one time but now are all produced in other countries. Yes, that’s right, we don’t “make” cars anymore, we only assemble the parts that are all made elsewhere. All that money that was loaned to General Motors was so that “our” workers could assemble foreign parts into an “American” automobile.
Pretty much everything now is made, and/or owned by foreigners and if it’s not, then it disappears like a Pontiac on a long flat road. Much was made of America’s own “King Of Beers”, Budweiser, being sold to a Belgium conglomerate, but the same is true of their competitors, Coors and Miller, both also owned by foreign companies. Everything we wear from our Levi’s jeans to our Reebok sneakers are manufactured outside of the U.S. America’s game, baseball, is played mostly by foreign born athletes, wearing foreign made uniforms and equipment, including their baseball gloves. When the President of the United States throws out the first pitch this year, he will be throwing a Rawlings baseball made in America, Central America that is.
wessagusset 