>Two juicy little items for anyone who takes an unholy delight in watching
>what's left of the Pax Americana shred itself into oblivion:
>
>(1) Gardner's 2000 machine-tool survey, over at
><http://www.gardnerweb.com/consump/produce.html>, reveals that the EU was
>responsible for 54% of world machine-tool output in 1999, East Asia
>weighed in at 32.5%, while the US produced only 12.6% (machine-tools are
>the DNA of any industrial base, i.e. machines which produce other
>machines).
>
>(2) Capital investment in Taiwan is reaching astonishing heights; foundry
>firm TSMC is planning to invest almost as much as Intel this year, despite
>revenues which are maybe 14% those of Intel's. For the details, see:
><http://www.semibiznews.com/st/news/story/OEG20000224S0002>
Dennis, you are just so Old Economy. Machine tools? How quaint! Ideas, man, weightless inspirations - those matter. Matter doesn't matter anymore. And measuring by the quantity of investment? Like comparing an M-1 tank with a Lamborghini. The U.S. invests less than everyone else, for sure, but we invest better! Everyone else invests big because they're not as nimble or clever. Just ask Alan Greenspan.
Doug