Category Archives: American Jobs

Russia and Your Space Station

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I read an interesting article in the paper a few days back regarding all the upheaval in Ukraine with Russia, and how this is affecting the relationship between Russia and the U.S. when it comes to the International Space Station (ISS). I know a little about NASA and the ISS and its operations, and I can tell you this issue is troubling to me. We have an ISS mission operations control center in Russia, as well as here in the U.S. at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Our astronauts train in Russia for the Soyuz flights that ferry them back and forth to the ISS. The following is an excerpt from an internal NASA memo:

“Given Russia’s ongoing violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, until further notice, the U.S. Government has determined that all NASA contacts with Russian Government representatives are suspended, unless the activity has been specifically excepted. This suspension includes NASA travel to Russia and visits by Russian Government representatives to NASA facilities, bilateral meetings, email, and teleconferences or videoconferences. At the present time, only operational International Space Station activities have been excepted. In addition, multilateral meetings held outside of Russia that may include Russian participation are not precluded under the present guidance.” SOURCE: NASA Watch

From what I know, there are teleconferences at least weekly and emails probably daily. Before each flight of a vehicle to the ISS, Flight Readiness Reviews and Stage Operations Readiness Reviews are typically held and ALL international parties attend in person or via teleconference. Most configuration changes of any kind often require all international partners to agree and sign-off on. I have no idea what exactly has been deemed essential and how this is impacted by the sanctions the U.S. currently has in place with our partner in space.

We are dependent on Russia to get our astronauts to the ISS. We have much invested in the way of funding and are gaining enormous benefits in areas that will not even be realized for years – the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer could possibly change the basic concepts of physics; medical studies regarding cancer, aging, medications, etc.; as well as many other important scientific and technological advances.  When NASA’s Space Shuttle Program ended, with no crew vehicle to take its place, the price of the seats on the Russian Soyuz went up, now costing approximately $70 million. Sometimes two of those seats belong to us, meaning that cost doubles.

I’ve read that Charles Bolden, NASA’s administrator has said Russia’s space agency Roscosmos will continue to cooperate with NASA as far as providing our astronauts a ride to and from the space station. He has assured that Russia depends on us and can’t run the station as we supply many essential power and operating systems. He mentioned in 2008, when there were diplomatic issues involving Georgia, there were no problems. Well at that point the ISS was not completely assembled. I doubt both of the robotic arms were onboard and I’m pretty sure the satellite deployers had not been delivered. The robotic arms are used for so many tasks and operations and the small satellite deployers are a definite advantage in this newer area of technology. In my opinion, the only guarantee we have is that Russia wants our money.

My understanding is that the Russian cosmonauts spend the majority of their time living and working in the Russian modules and predominantly only work on their own science investigations – which if you ever look at a NASA Expedition Press Kit, these science experiments/investigations are written in Russian, so if you do not know the language or have an interpreter, most people have no idea what the Russians are really working on. (Though I am sure someone at NASA does.) They may even use their own communication systems separate of NASA’s, as well.

Also, if I understand correctly, the Russian Zvezda Service Module is the main piece of the station when it comes to powering all other systems and if it goes down – the whole thing can die. Having said all that, the Russians could just shut the parts of the U.S. side of the station down that they didn’t want to use and that would be that. I’d be willing to bet, there’s probably ways to disconnect the U.S. modules and let them deorbit, if so desired.

The space station was conceived as an engineering feat, to result in not only great advances in science and human space exploration, but also as a model for international cooperation – peace, compromise and teamwork. Under the circumstances though, I can’t help but wonder if Russia would try and use their advantage and take over the station.

I don’t know, and I am not an expert on any of these things. I am just thinking about the possibilities of what can happen with operations of the space station and the ramifications of the state of the world and our own affairs in this country presently. WE have a lot at stake here and I don’t think most of us really even know it. It’s not just about who owns, runs, funds the ISS and the science we get from that – it’s about who ultimately owns the skies with satellite technology and just as an aside, human space exploration.

I just realized North Korea has a space agency. North Korea has a space agency and China has landed a rover on and is exploring the moon and Russia is the only way our astronauts can travel back and forth to the space station that we as a nation and as taxpayers own a big part of. Regardless of your opinions of NASA, space exploration, and its funding . . . Is it just me or is this picture disturbing?

Just something I was thinking about . . .

Why Do We Keep Giving Our Jobs Away?

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This is an article I originally wrote back in December 2004 about the problem of outsourcing American jobs to other countries. I recently found it and was surprised at how nothing has changed in the last ten years and this piece is still pretty spot on. Actually things may be even worse. There’s a greater number of aging baby boomers to work some of these jobs, and they are having an even harder time, often being terminated from their jobs 10-15 years before retirement age, now dipping into their retirement savings to live – but that is another story for a different day.

I hope this trend of corporate greed at the expense of this country’s health and welfare changes soon. Personally, I think if you outsource jobs to other countries that can be done by American workers, you should be heavily taxed. I think companies who maintain their workforce in the United States should be given tax breaks, at least for a period of time.

I note in my article I am NOT an economist or historian, nor am I necessarily politically inclined, so I don’t know all the background about these types of things, but I know enough to know they can be done judiciously and pragmatically. Of course, this will most likely cut into some profit margins – so though it can be done, I am sure it would be a fight. In honor of Throwback Thursday, I thought I would share it with you & see what you think.

 Outsourcing American Jobs Dangerous Trend

I love to read Molly Ivins’ nationally syndicated column. Today’s article was Ivin’s review of two books. One of the books mentioned, “When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor” by William Julius Wilson, discussed the problems with joblessness in the inner city ghettos. She uses a quote from the book discussing his solutions, which she states as critical for all of us not just for poor inner-city blacks – “The problems of joblessness and social dislocation in the inner city are, in part, related to the processes in the global economy that have contributed to greater inequality & insecurity among American workers in general & to the failure of U.S. social policies to adjust to these processes. It is therefore myopic to view the problems of jobless ghettos as if they were separate from those that plague the larger society.”

This made me think, as I read, that a large percentage of the American workforce is now in danger of this “jobless ghetto” syndrome. I heard President Bush say, during one of the debates, that the key to ending unemployment and government assistance needs is EDUCATION for 21st century jobs. The way I see it, the market is becoming considerably service and technology based. The jobs of the 21st century are huge in the area of technical assistance (development, programming, maintenance) and customer service. These are also the jobs that have been outsourced to other countries, for considerably cheaper labor costs. This is a dangerous trend that has been on the rise in the last five years.

Now, I am not an economics or history expert, but the way it appears to me is that in the last half century jobs have increasingly changed in proportion concerning manufacturing and service-oriented jobs. In the early years of this country up until the first half of the 20th century, manufacturing was a huge part of the economic base. The last half of the 20th century saw a large majority of these jobs being outsourced to other countries because it was cheaper for the manufacturer. This left the service-oriented and technology fields as a way of providing jobs for American citizens. As proved from my last five calls to Dell, and other computer parts manufacturers they are involved with, ALL of their technical support has been outsourced, often times to places where the technicians’ English is accented so heavily, even if they are the most intelligent in the world, I can’t understand a word coming out of their mouths.

If we are sending all the manufacturing, customer service-oriented and technology jobs overseas, what jobs does that leave for Americans? Medical professionals, lawyers, dry-cleaners, and fast-food/restaurant jobs are a few of the jobs left. Do you recognize the large gap in salaries between the first two jobs I mentioned and the second two jobs – the haves and the have-nots?

Do not misunderstand me, I understand the importance of a global economy, but in my opinion we have taken the concept entirely too far. When there is no balance, a considerable amount of middle-class jobs disappear from the U.S. landscape. If this trend continues, jobless ghettos could be as common as tent cities during the Great Depression.

Just something I was thinking about, something I think about often actually.

(And RIP Molly Ivins, you are missed by many!!)

China’s Moon?

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When our government decided to cancel NASA’s Constellation Program several years back, which would have taken us back to the moon and to Mars, Homer Hickman (author of Rocket Boys and October Sky) wrote a short story set in the not-so-distant future. This was his take on America in a “post-NASA” world, a world where the United States is not the leader in human space flight exploration.  I wanted to share it with you, as I have some specific opinions that are of a similar topic I will be writing on in the future, and thought this would be a perfect preface.  It’s an interesting tale, for sure – and a little disturbing to say the least.

I hope you find it interesting, as well, whether you support NASA’s endeavors or not. Oh, and were you aware that China landed its first rover on the moon last December?

The Boy Who Looked at the Moon by Homer Hickman

Just something I was thinking about . . .

Writing Skills Not Valued

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I was listening to the news today, which is always an adventure for me. There was a report on changes to the high school SAT, which is required by many colleges for admittance. These changes, taking effect in 2016, are to make the test more relevant and to make it easier to pass. Changes included the elimination of the essay portion of the exam, making it optional. Now maybe I am a little biased, as I am a writer, but this says to me that being able to write coherently and mechanically sound is not a needed skill. Then we wonder why we rank so low on the list globally regarding education.

Being a good writer, albeit good communicator, is important. I realize being a good writer does not measure intelligence and that many incredibly brilliant people are not necessarily good writers.  That does not mean we should not strive to master this area in some sort of capacity. I am always amazed at the atrocious writing skills I have seen in those who have master’s degrees and always wonder how they managed to get that degree as poorly as they wrote.

When it comes to jobs – pretty soon, other countries will have the ability to write English better than us – so those jobs will begin to be shipped overseas too. I do some contract copywriting for an internet marketing firm at times. When I was hired, the owner shared with me that the computer programmers and graphic designers he employed were in India. He had found he needed American writers, as it is difficult to find good writers of the English language in other countries. It seems the way we are going, we will outsource ourselves right out of those jobs, too.

I could go on. I have certain reservations about testing protocols, too. But that’s a story for another day. I just know that being able to write well is a valuable commodity, and lowering the standards isn’t going to accomplish what the “powers that be” are trying to accomplish. I don’t believe this is going to make our future leaders as globally competitive as they will need to be – thus, as a nation, we will fall further behind.

Did you know that cursive writing has been removed from the curriculum from many schools? Don’t get me started on that one . . . that’s a subject for another day!

Anyway, just something I was thinking about . . .

harshlypressedbutton

 

American Jobs Needed

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So the other day, I was watching some talking heads show & it was mentioned how the infrastructure of the United States is in dismal need of maintenance & repairs. It was mentioned that the current president had talked about putting American people to work on these projects – thus fortifying America and bringing much needed employment to many areas of the country.

Sounds like perfect sense to me, but we all know those are not the types of jobs that can be shipped overseas to be done for pennies on the dollar of what it would cost here by paying a decent living wage.  These are NOT the types of jobs that bring big bucks to corporate America, so no one seems interested in getting these projects started, let alone completed.

I remember years back the former president made the statement that we need to train Americans for jobs needed in the 21st century. What we have seen is that most of those jobs are being sent overseas to be done cheaper – so I never understood how that was going to help Americans stay employed and help this country prosper.

Unfortunately, when our bridges start collapsing at a quicker pace, our water systems start malfunctioning and the worst nightmare of them all, we start having power grid issues, these corporate tycoons and government buffoons  are going to wish they had invested a little more here in their own backyards. I have always said, the one act that will bring this country to its knees is to take out the power grid – our aging, antiquated power grid that we ALL depend on for every aspect of our lives – communication, power, heating, running water systems, pumping gas, banking, checking out at the grocery stores, etc., as the list goes on and on and on.

It just seems like we are setting ourselves up to be ambushed, caught with our pants down, to fall hard, and to lose much. There’s a song I like by Toad the Wet Sprocket called Whatever I Fear and part of the chorus goes like this:

“Whatever I fear the most is whatever I see before me
  Whenever I let my guard down, whatever I was ignoring . . .”

 We, as a nation collectively, better start paying attention. We better quit ignoring the things that don’t seem to affect us right this instant, but will when we least expect it.

Just something I was thinking about . . . what do you think?

Lyrics ©Toad the Wet Sprocket – Coil 1997