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When I was growing up, my mother was at IBM designing software for the space shuttle, and the street next to my house was named IBM. I was named after one of th
by genedan 5y ago
When I was growing up, my mother was at IBM designing software for the space shuttle, and the street next to my house was named IBM. I was named after one of their senior engineers. So the company played a big part in my childhood and was ever present in the community, and we still have lots of IBM space swag stored away in the attic, including the silver snoopy given to my mom during her time there. The stock grants paid for our education, and my mom still lives off the pension they had. The early 90s was such an optimistic time.
At some point IBM sold off the unit, vacated the office block, and the street was renamed to that of the new company that moved in. Eventually, all the shuttle workers would be laid off after the demise of the program, so it's sad to see how it all ended.
- pm90 5y agoThanks for sharing your story. I wonder if the children of FAANG employees would feel similar to what you felt. I suspect that may not be the case, since most companies don't really make such long term investments anymore.
- shp0ngle 5y agoI think those companies still exist, but they exist in China. I might be wrong though. I just see the growth of China and decline of the US, and I cannot stop feeling like those two are connected. But what do I know. People were afraid about Japan before.
- shadilay 5y agoChina like Japan has it's own problems. In the case of the US, offshoring of manufacturing surely played a part but greater than that is the financialization of the economy, decline of the middle class, and the capture of wealth generation in the hands of a few.
- freeone3000 5y agoAnd now the world's largest car manufacturer is Toyota, the biggest gaming providers are Nintendo and Sony, and Mitsubishi and Hitachi are important players in every industry. American manufacturing in the same industries are down. People seeing the growth of Japan and decline of the US were only wrong in a matter of degree.
- rsynnott 5y agoThe world’s largest car manufacturer (by units) is Volkswagen, FWIW.
- mark_l_watson 5y agoI wish that the USA would take advantage of where we have advantages: agriculture, the creative entertainment industry, and our rich cultural differences. To the last point: when I travel around the US, I feel like I am in different countries with different politics and cultures. I hope we learn to support and appreciate other subcultures. Except for top performers and people inheriting great wealth, Americans really need to adjust their expectations of what their material life will be. Happily, I see this in young people who aren’t buying into materialism and prefer life style, travel, etc. and realize that living within their means is better than long term debt.