Dr. Nemko writes: "Everyone agrees that America is becoming, as the NPR radio show title says, 'Latino USA.' This will accelerate of course, if after the 2012 election, President Obama gets his wish for amnesty/comprehensive immigration reform."
But aren't the likely GOP candidates equally devoted, in practice, to amnesty?
Reasonable point, Leonard. But this is one of those issues on which what one says on the stump and what one will do in practice may not be the same. It's almost impossible in our current climate to not, in public, say the liberal thing regarding any issue pertaining to minorities, but in the back rooms where legislation is hammered out, I believe that Republicans are less enthusiastic about the prospect of the US turning into Latino USA.
I feel similarly. I wish I could find one Latino-centric country in the entire world that would give me reason for optimism that a Latino-centric USA would be better than the current USA.
I've read that when the "hot" new fields reach academic classes, it's already too late to get in and get on the ground floor in a new career where you're propelled higher because of high demand for your skills.
A few years ago I was seriously thinking about using my math skills and getting into the field of "financial engineering" where models are used to predict where to invest. Well, we see where those models got us with the housing market (fatal assumption of values always going up in the model). I had researched classes, and would have spent some big bucks learning the trade. Well, now I go out there and I don't see nary a class (at least presented like they used to, you can still get a mathematical finance degree).
So, I stayed in the field I'm in now, and guess what it is ... paper snail mail. Direct mail is still strong for the foreseeable future. E-mails are not stable and many times are phantom (I use the technique myself). Anything online is fickle and riddled with trash and mean-spirited comments. It's a world of virtual customers, how do you solicit to them?
I was thinking of taking Spanish classes. Not because of the reasons you state, but because I hear Spanish more and more around me including service workers, peer employees (bi-lingual Latino themselves or Spanish-trained), and anywhere out and about. Also, I have a couple channels on the TV I can watch and listen to, where when I learned French, it was hard to find the environment to practice.
One of my thoughts is to teach math in some capacity in retirement, maybe Spanish will come in handy.
Dr. Nemko writes: "Everyone agrees that America is becoming, as the NPR radio show title says, 'Latino USA.' This will accelerate of course, if after the 2012 election, President Obama gets his wish for amnesty/comprehensive immigration reform."
ReplyDeleteBut aren't the likely GOP candidates equally devoted, in practice, to amnesty?
Reasonable point, Leonard. But this is one of those issues on which what one says on the stump and what one will do in practice may not be the same. It's almost impossible in our current climate to not, in public, say the liberal thing regarding any issue pertaining to minorities, but in the back rooms where legislation is hammered out, I believe that Republicans are less enthusiastic about the prospect of the US turning into Latino USA.
ReplyDeleteI feel similarly. I wish I could find one Latino-centric country in the entire world that would give me reason for optimism that a Latino-centric USA would be better than the current USA.
I've read that when the "hot" new fields reach academic classes, it's already too late to get in and get on the ground floor in a new career where you're propelled higher because of high demand for your skills.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I was seriously thinking about using my math skills and getting into the field of "financial engineering" where models are used to predict where to invest. Well, we see where those models got us with the housing market (fatal assumption of values always going up in the model). I had researched classes, and would have spent some big bucks learning the trade. Well, now I go out there and I don't see nary a class (at least presented like they used to, you can still get a mathematical finance degree).
So, I stayed in the field I'm in now, and guess what it is ... paper snail mail. Direct mail is still strong for the foreseeable future. E-mails are not stable and many times are phantom (I use the technique myself). Anything online is fickle and riddled with trash and mean-spirited comments. It's a world of virtual customers, how do you solicit to them?
I was thinking of taking Spanish classes. Not because of the reasons you state, but because I hear Spanish more and more around me including service workers, peer employees (bi-lingual Latino themselves or Spanish-trained), and anywhere out and about. Also, I have a couple channels on the TV I can watch and listen to, where when I learned French, it was hard to find the environment to practice.
One of my thoughts is to teach math in some capacity in retirement, maybe Spanish will come in handy.