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Editor's Letter: End-of-the-Year Musings
By
Well, it will be the year 2001 shortly, making the question of when the 21st century begins moot. It will absolutely be the 21st century in a few days—for everybody.
There are always a few things that continue to bother me throughout the year and this one has been no different—except that it was a year of presidential campaigning and debates. I guess the debates of 2000 aggravated me more than ever before. The broadcasters had moderators who were supposed to be "the men," posing questions to both candidates. I heard both candidates refer to this great economy and how we must never do anything to hurt it. Why would any honest moderator let these two guys get away with that?
Many of my younger engineering friends have invested money in the stock market to build a nest egg for their kids’ college. Many of my older engineering friends have invested as a hedge toward retirement. And many of my engineering friends have taken jobs at various manufacturing companies with packages that include stock options.
Back in March and April, as the political campaigns began to heat up, one politician touted the impressive gains of our economy. Suddenly, the stock market began a continuous slide into red ink. Just take a look at the stock market’s 52-week charts. The company with the highest market capitalization has gone from a high of nearly $120 per share down to a low of less than $49. Following this company, the second highest market capitalization is a company on which much of the Internet and telecommunications infrastructure depends and their stock fell from a high of $82 to a low of $32 during 2000. One of our best industry manufacturers’ stock fell from $61+ down to $20. A darling of the wireless industry has dropped from a high of $200 down to $50+. One of the best engineering-driven leaders has seen it’s stock slide from a high of $84+ down to $20. One of the clear earlier winners in the Internet marketplace shows a high of $151 and a low of $10+, and one of our own Internet service providers (ISPs) has dropped from $28+ down to $1+.
Why doesn’t this "so-called" moderator simply say to the candidates, "Stop gentlemen. I have these stock charts and, after you look them over, I’d like to ask you where you get off referring to this economy as anything approaching great!"
And, while it’s getting close to Christmas and I think I might get something super under the tree, why doesn’t that same expert moderator ask each candidate what his views are concerning the possibility of either getting a set of tax forms that the average voter can prepare without the aid of a CPA or requiring that each high school student have a course on income tax preparation as part of their curriculum? After all, we will all have to face tax time in our adult lifetime. Well, there’s always next year and new musings!
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