And who will fix their cars & unplus their toilets? People that can do, will survive.

This is an EXCELLENT article! Pegs it better than any I´ve read. I would recommend this for a Must Read. Local company built by engineers making a fantastic high-tech product sold to businesses, countries, militaries, etc. around the world. They built a heck of a business. So big it caught the attention of several multi-national corporations. Finally the guys were ready to retire and sold it for a princely - KINGLY - sum. To General Dynamics. GD thought that any company run by engineers could be run better by MBAs, so they installed their guys - who knew absolutely nothing about the product, the technicalities, the workers, the market or the customers - but, by golly, they had MBAs from the best schools! And they promptly screwed up the company. That´s what has happened to our entire country in a nutshell.

Wow! Excellent read. This misbehavior exists far beyond the public sector under the banner of ´professionalism´. In medicine, invasive cardiologists discount their own on-the-job learning of new procedures and try to limit entry of potential competitors by requiring extra years of training. In the nursing profession, some hospitals bought into this by only hiring nurses with bachelor degrees - as if a B.S RN was necessary to wipe a butt. Cabbies needing a Medallion, hair braiders who need cosmetology training and licensure to work...These standards of ´professionalism´ are thinly disguised trade restraints which ultimately raise the cost of many services.