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Cotton: The Future of American High Tech?

06 min 06 sec

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Planet Money host Adam Davidson reports on the surprising success of the cotton industry despite the economic recession. He says technological innovation makes cotton production so efficient in the United States, that we export cotton thread to China for the manufacture of clothing.
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Encyclopædia Britannica Articles

National Public Radio (NPR): U.S. public radio network. It was established by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 1970 to provide programming to U.S. noncommercial and educational radio stations. While initially providing programs on the arts, after 1983 the network focused largely on news programming. It features the daily programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as the interview programs Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation.; National Public Radio (NPR) on britannica.com
work: In economics and sociology, the activities and labour necessary for the survival of society. As early as 40,000 BC, hunters worked in groups to track and kill animals, while younger or weaker members of the tribe gathered food. When agriculture replaced hunting and gathering, the resulting surplus of food allowed early societies to develop and some of its members to pursue crafts such as pottery, weaving, and metallurgy. Historically, rigid social hierarchies caused nobles, clergy, merchants, artisans, and peasants to pursue occupations defined largely by hereditary social class. Craft guilds, influential in the economic development of medieval Europe, limited the supply of labour in each profession and controlled production. The establishment of towns led to the creation of new occupations in commerce, law, medicine, and defense. The coming of the Industrial Revolution, spurred by technological advances such as steam power, changed working life profoundly. Factories divided the work once done by a single craftsman into a number of distinct tasks performed by unskilled or semiskilled workers (see division of labour). Manufacturing firms grew larger in the 19th century as standardized parts and machine tools came into use, and ever-more-specialized positions for managers, supervisors, accountants, engineers, technicians, and salesmen became necessary. The trend toward specialization continued into the 21st century, giving rise to a number of disciplines concerned with the management and design of work, including production management, industrial relations, personnel administration, and systems engineering. By the turn of the 21st century, automation and technology had spurred tremendous growth in service industries.; work on britannica.com

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Yatin Dhareshwar +

Posted: 10.06.11, 05:24 PM

When I come across such talks, I often wonder why the US does not aggressively export expertise and products in high tech areas to emerging markets (with proper trade agreements and safeguards in place). Of note, is the segment in which the speaker talks about the US cotton industry. Due to the superior technology, 1 farmer in the US can produce the same output as 800 farmers in China or India. In other words, 800 people put together do not earn as much as the US farmer. Adopting these technologies, can increase the earnings of farmers in countries such as India where I belong, prevent suicides (farmer suicides are rampant) and their children can go to school. The transfer of expertise and high tech machinery will create real jobs in the US with no additional burden on its debt and the entire world can have access to better yet cheaper cotton and cotton products.

mrfnk

Posted: 08.08.11, 11:50 PM

Not silk because the men with the money already have cotton farms. And who cares about an old hat? I want a tastier slab of steak, good drugs, green grass, and no flees on my dogs. Most of all I don't want someone who I don't know, and think is crazy, telling me my math was wrong. There is no such thing as magic. It's witchery I say. lol, magic. what next god? pfsst...

Eric25001

Posted: 05.20.11, 02:06 AM

And why not silk? Silk from wild USA native insects now that technology offers a way to soak the wild cocoons and use the silk? And USE dna to make the silk have the color, brighness, dullness, optics etcetera that we want. Why stop? Maybe sheep that have spider silk like fleece? Virus me this, Virus me that With DNA we can make any old hat! You want a pink kitten, a five fingered mitten All the magic has not yet been written!