Economic future of the US

As many of you know, I went on a trip to Europe this year. What I saw were two different economic models and I wonder which one the US will follow.

In Switzerland the economy was geared toward high end manufacturing (watches) and high tech products (pharma). The government was working on building infrastructure for new technologies such as CERN.

Meanwhile in Spain the emphasis was to depend on tourism to generate jobs. The economic engine was based on building lots of hotels so rich Germans could spend cold winters on warm Spanish beaches.

The problem with this approach is that it creates many low paying minimum wage jobs that are at best seasonal. Jobs such as hotel registration are outsourced to India. In fact, many of the accounting jobs are subject to offshore outsourcing.

What is Spain left with? Mainly cleaning the floors.

People do not have to go to college to change bed sheets, so the jobs pay very little. In Spain I saw a lot of scooters as many teens cannot afford cars. No houses, but tiny little apartments.

Could this be our future?