Re: Orange Country Register: Celestron Down, Meade Sinking

"Davoud" <star@xxxxxxx> wrote in message news:030420051311530540%star@xxxxxxxxxx
> RMOLLISE:
>> ...Yes, it appears, as many of us feared, that Celestron is just about
>> down for the count. Meade isn't far behind 'em either, apparently. IOW,
>> what we were hearing a week ago or so appears all too true.
>>
>> For more information, please read this article in the _Orange County
>> Register_:
>>
>>
>> <http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/04/02/sections/business/business/article_4
>> 66106.php>
>>
>> You'll have to "register" to read it, but you can enter anything you
>> like for the email/username...
>
> It will be a sad day when Celestron is bought by a Taiwan company and
> Meade shifts its manufacturing to China.
>
> I just don't understand economics. On the face of it, it would seem to
> make sense for the government to try to help in order to keep jobs in
> the USA; yet the government's stated policy is that sending jobs
> overseas is good for the country. It's hard to see how a
> Meade-Celestron merger would fit that policy; so it's not surprising
> that the FTC has told Meade that it would fight a merger.

That's because the government is no longer of the people, by the people, for the
people, but for Big Corporate America, which means a few already very rich
Americans are going to get all the benefits, while the rest of us wonder how
we're going to survive. Sending jobs overseas does not do America good in the
long haul, and unfortunately the long haul is nearing its end as we speak.
Several years ago I heard some economists screaming that outsourcing was going
to drive America into the ground as an economic power, and place America at the
mercy of those that are ramping up to be the producers for the world, namely
China among other countries. Then our policy makers can explain how their
bone-headed decisions were "for America" then.



>> Well, my next SCT may be a domestically made MCT.
>
> This is one solution, but not affordable by everyone. I wonder if there
> is a place in the market for someone who could mass produce kits for
> the assembly of a high-quality Newt? Then, of course, the mount becomes
> an issue; it seems that it is impossible to build a high-quality mount
> -- one suitable for astrophotography -- at low cost.

This is due to the types of materials ("heavy" is one word that comes to mind)
that are required for high quality tracking, and this is one area that cheap
plastics and such are not going to help out. Even composites aren't going to
help out, because the issue is not only weight-bearing capability but also
enough weight to dampen out movements, and I don't think you can simply place
weights at specific locations and get the same performance as a mount made
mostly of heavy materials.



> It would be most unfortunate if the only choices in commercially made
> telescopes were cheaply built products from Asia and premium-priced
> domestic scopes from companies like AP and Questar that are out of
> reach for the great majority of people.
>
> We are, indeed, between a rock and a hard place.

And it's going to get worse, especially the general trend of the decline of
home-brewed manufacture stuff is concerned. The United States being a third
rate economic power - it's staring us in the face, but the fat cats don't care.

Concerned and worried,
--- Dave
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinprick holes in a colorless sky
Let inspired figures of light pass by
The Mighty Light of ten thousand suns
Challenges infinity, and is soon gone

david.nakamoto@xxxxxxxxxxx



.

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