As our country drowns in its most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, it’s easy to forget the dozens of other ills from which the nation is suffering, all brought on by government and corporate greed, incompetence, and deregulation, or a combination of all three.Our crumbling infrastructure of dams, highways and bridges is one of those illnesses written about in previous blog entries in this space. For example, see the August 4, 2008 blog entry entitled, “Interstate 35-W Bridge Collapse -- One Year Later.”However, one bright spot occurred this week in this sea of darkness. The new Interstate 35W bridge is finally open in Minneapolis, thirteen and a half months after the last one collapsed into the Mississippi River. Lest we forget, the August 1, 2007 bridge collapse killed 13 people and injured 145.On September 18, 2008, hundreds of vehicles lined up on both sides, some waiting hours for the new bridge to open a few minutes after 5:00 AM CDT. Then they inched, bumper to bumper, onto the new $234...

In a blog entry in this space on August 2, 2008, we reported that the acquisition of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) vendor ANSOFT by Mechanical Computer Aided Analysis (MCAE) vendor ANSYS had been fully realized.The concluding paragraphs of that August 2nd blog entry read as follows:“While the notion of offering combinations of mechanical and electronics software tools is not new (reference Applicon in the early 80’s and Mentor Graphics PCB Division in the early 90’s), the combination of ANSYS and ANSOFT may arguably give ANSYS one of the most comprehensive, independent engineering simulation software suites in today’s industry. Look for other deals similar to this one to occur between MCAE/MCAD and EDA vendors going forward.”Well, yesterday September 18, 2008, a fresh collaborative deal between EDA vendor Mentor Graphics and MCAD vendor Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) was announced. The new capability is being portrayed as “the industry’s first design collaboration between Electrical (ECAD) and Mechanical...

If an observer had to choose just one example among the dozens of disastrous ills affecting this nation’s ongoing financial crises, the poster child may well be the exorbitant pay that corporate executives accept from obliging boards of directors and hapless shareholders, including current salaries and golden parachutes, even when the executives' companies are performing horribly.

It may be worth your attention to read Nicholas Kristof’s Op-Ed piece published in the September 18, 2008 New York Times, “Need a Job? $17,000 an Hour. No Success Required."

If you missed it, click on:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/opinion/18kristof.html?th&emc=th