Thomas L. Friedman: "The World is Flat"

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Many would consider your economic model to be lagging behind a large proportion of the western world actually...

Not economic growth wise but in terms of social responsibility it is.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Really? Scandinavia is already spanking you in terms of living standards, and hotness of women.

Who's talking about standards of living? I'm talking about economic strength.

What's the point of economic strength if it doesn't translate into SoL?

[Agathon]

What's the point of economic strength if it doesn't translate into SoL?

I already asked that question. Apparently the answer is that it allows you to Lord it over the rest of the world, whether they know it or not. You also get lots of guns.

[Spiffor]

Guns

[Japher]

I'm with Che... though it's not only SoL but Quality of Life, something the US is definitly lagging on.

We need to be more productive, do less, and kill more people and then we would rok

[DanS]

Despite it all, the vast majority of people in the US have an extremely high standard of living.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

12% live in poverty, more then any other western european nation.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

12% live in poverty, more then any other western european nation.

[KrazyHorse]

12 or 24%?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

12.

[GePap]

Originally posted by DanS


I don't know that to be true. US companies sell about 1/2 of the world's semiconductors by value, which is about as well as they have ever done. It is true that some of those semiconductors are manufactured by our companies overseas, of course.

Friedman's main point is the difference in trained engineers and scientists. The US has not been producing many engineers and scientists for a while now- this shortage was being met by trained engineers from around the world before, one because they could not find work elsewhere, 2. because immigration to the US was relatively easy.

Thanks to new immigration regulations, its much harder to get into the US, and thanks to the internet there is less need for engineers to actually move to the US to work. This is Friedman's main concern.

Plus the fact the US is not gaining as fast with a variety of new information technologies- the US used to be number 1 in terms of houses with access to broadband internet. The Japanese are now ahead not only in the % of homes with broadband, but in ther quality of the service as well. This is because the Japanese government, and other governments, are subsidizing the growth of broadband and G3 cell phones and so forth, while the US has sat back and is trusting the market to do it. It seems the market is not keeping up.

[Jon Miller]

I would like to say here and now that comcast sucks

but there is no other boadband service provider arround here... (that I know of)

Jon Miller

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
I wouldn't be too worried about Japan; their economy has too many of the same problems that are plaguing Europe. Of course, the rise of China may be enough to get them off their asses to make some serious reforms, so who knows?

Japan will get out of it eventually. Maybe China's rise is just what they'll need, but Japan will continue to be a player. Of course, China is the one to watch out for and India is growing very well.

And from some of the comments here, you'd think the US was 100+ in the HDI. They are actually 8th and it isn't a great leap to #1. And of the countries above the US, only Australia has areas with as nice weather as some areas in the US .

[DanS]

12% live in poverty, more then any other western european nation.

As far as I know, a 12% poverty level is not out of line with those in Western Europe. The UK has a ~ 17% level, f.e.

On the other hand, the US has areas of acute poverty, unlike many European countries.

[Ted Striker]

I'm with the quality of life and social responsibility crowd.

Who cares if we are kicking everyone's azz when it only benefits a few.

Like the recent moron CEO that gave his wife 2 billion in stock a couple of days before he was fired.

Inequity of wealth.