LIVING IN NEVERLAND

Michael Jackson died on June 25. On June 26, the House passed the America Clean Energy and Security Act. With Jackson?s death on the first day, we lost an entertainer who slid from the heights of showbiz stardom down to a pit of sexual misconduct accusations, drug addiction and bizarre public behavior. The next day, by a slim margin of 219-212, our Honorables moved closer to imposing the largest tax increase in the history of the world on you and me.

I ask you, which one of these should really be more important to we the people?

Most of the people I?ve spoken with recently have never even heard of the Waxman-Markey bill. Under this cap-and-trade legislation, utilities and other producers of CO2 will have limits imposed on them by the Honorables that they must meet by either reducing their CO2 emissions or ?buying? credits from those companies that are under those limits.

Most of the public doesn?t have a clue about what is actually going on here. But that?s not surprising, given the dumbing down of our society by a news media that relishes infotainment over hard reporting. Rather than tenaciously covering and analyzing a stupid bill that many agree will ultimately burden all of us with huge taxes, the talking heads instead focused virtually all of their (and our) attention on the pitiful tragedy of a man who left this world as an emotional basketcase, mentally stunted in his attempts to live a childhood he never knew.

I don?t remember such a spectacle of cheesy, touchy-feely rambling going on and on and on about a guy who was nothing more than a weirdo since Elvis passed away 30 years ago. The sad thing is that so many zombies devoted so much their time to tracking every word, every song, every film clip, even as they were replayed over and over, ad infinitum. These people have no idea what ?cap-and-trade? means, but they can certainly tell you how many chemical peels and nose jobs were performed on the King of Pop, along with the names of each doctor.

When you really think about it, this public display speaks volumes about our emotional maturity as a society. In a very real way, our society increasingly appears to reflect what Jackson became in the end, mentally stunted in childhood. Just as he once did, much of our country is living in Neverland, the symbol of a fantasy world that doesn?t exist.

By now, everyone on the planet knows that the Neverland Valley Ranch in Santa Barbara, CA, was the home of Jackson for almost 20 years. He named it after Neverland, the fantasy island in the story of Peter Pan. During the first part of his life there, Michael was on top of the world, a super-entertainer who made and spent billions. In a similar vein, when our society first entered into Neverland, the U.S. was the only true superpower in the world, superior in political, economic and military power.

Over time, Michael fell into all sorts of problems with his social life, his business and his finances, to the point that he eventually lost all of his freedoms in Neverland to the state. But his mind remained stuck in a fantasy world, where he was loved by all and taken care of by them.

Over time, the U.S. has also fallen into all sorts of problems with our social life, our business and our finances, to the point that we the people are on the verge of losing our freedoms to the state. Yet our news coverage ? the collective mind of our society ? remains stuck in a fantasy world where the most important things in life revolve around entertainment and entertainers, while the true challenges we face as a people will be taken care of by the Honorables.

In Neverland, we make a big fuss over Jackson, Britney and all the problems of characters in the reality shows. But in the real world, the Honorables have moved to cap greenhouse gas emissions and trade them down through a series of milestone emission caps: 3 percent below 2005 levels, 17 percent below 2005 by 2020, 42 percent by 2030, and 83 percent by 2050.

How do they intend to accomplish this? By a slew of incentives and aggressive targets concerning carbon capture and storage, electric cars and the smart grid. Next month, we?ll analyze these components and see why they are all so controversial. Stay tuned. You don?t want to miss what you won?t get anywhere else.

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I must sadly announce that this issue marks the last column from our Lean consultant and trusted friend Dave Dixon, who is ?entering a stage of semi-retirement, where I can spend more time with my family, doing what I want to do . . . and working occasionally, when I want to.? Appears Dave has found his Neverland.

I first met Dave over 20 years ago, when I had the pleasure of attending one of his training sessions on "JIT in the Job Shop" (we still called lean 'just-in-time' back then). He founded the consulting firm Technical Change Associates (Ogden, UT) and under his leadership they grew to provide management consulting, technical assistance and training programs for the fabrication industry from seven locations across the nation. Though his column will be missed, Dave will continue to serve on our Editorial Advisory Board. We wish him the best!

Next month, however, we also have a new contributing editor joining our staff. Randy Pearson of Siemens will be writing an exciting new column called CNC Insider, which will troubleshoot specific CNC machining issues, examine current and projected CNC trends that are happening in the marketplace, review equipment selection/justification for specific applications, and explore the world of CNC in machining, turning, drilling, etc. Welcome aboard, Randy!

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Mike Riley is the editor of Fabricating & Metalworking magazine and the author of Backfield in Motion (Derek Press, 2007). Share your views with him on the dumbing down of the news and cap-and-trade at 205-681-3393 or [email protected].