Friedman: Losing Our Edge?

[Bhaisahab]

I was just out in Silicon Valley, checking in with high-tech entrepreneurs about the state of their business. I wouldn't say they were universally gloomy, but I did detect something I hadn't detected before: a real undertow of concern that America is losing its competitive edge vis-à-vis China, India, Japan and other Asian tigers, and that the Bush team is deaf, dumb and blind to this situation.

The bottom line: we are actually in the middle of two struggles right now. One is against the Islamist terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere, and the other is a competitiveness-and-innovation struggle against India, China, Japan and their neighbors. And while we are all fixated on the former (I've been no exception), we are completely ignoring the latter. We have got to get our focus back in balance, not to mention our budget. We can't wage war on income taxes and terrorism and a war for innovation at the same time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/22/opinion/22FRIE.html

[Burma Jones]

1. NOT ONLY The Asians

But the EU is soon to overtake our sorry asses on many innovations in biotech.

[codegreen]

2. reading the article, Friedman should, in all rationality, be pro-Kerry

[Zeke]

3. 0 for Life...

Freidman is a piece of shit!

Think about it: he's been totally wrong about every thing, every item, every argument he made about Bush, Iraq, Al Qeda, everything, and yet he still has a job, and is considered a respectable journalist!

He's a piece of shit!

[lanlady]

9. I second that--

--and it's pathetic how Friedman tries to makes us forget how consistently wrong he's been. What a dickhead.

That said, this article is pretty good for Friedman, if you ignore the comment about fighting Islamist terrorists in Iraq (as if that isn't a mess of our own making). I'm in the hi-tech field, and people are giving voice to complaints about the absolute lack of interest the Bush administration exhibits in science and engineering unless it intercepts with X-n fundamentalism. Why so many in my male-dominated field still plan to vote for this asshole is beyond me: a classic case, I guess, of voting against your own interests.

I do hope Kerry brings some fresh ideas to voters about this. A lot of what Friedman says in this piece was advocated by Al Gore.

[ixion]

10. Friedman is worthless, IMO

He's always pulling the 'Good Citizen' party line, then pretends to act dumbfounded when it turns out absolutely wrong.

Even in this article, he mentions the party line with the 'Islamic terrorists in Iraq' quip, which means he still doesn't get it.

[teryang]

15. I'll second that

This stupid war monger sucks.

[The Zanti Regent]

6. but he's not

He's even more of a blockhead than his father was!

[Bhaisahab]

8. his father?

wats his name and who was he? a RW nut?

[thebigidea]

4. muahahah

ah, Tom Friedman. Always good for a laugh.

I suspect he'll end up like Skilling - grabbing people by the lapels and babbling, collapsing on the concrete...

http://www.terminalproduct.com/mrpragmatic.mp3

[whistle]

5. Look, U.S. manufacturing companies are outsourcing and relocating

...to other countries because the Bush/republican tax incentives give them breaks and subsidies to do so. But they are also doing it to avoid environmental, safety and labor regulations. Kerry says he's going to abolish those breaks and stop the outflow. Then we'll have to figure out ways to bring the work back to the U.S. without inflating the economy. Taxing the rich will help, but we will need to gouge the rich to turn this around and bring economic equity and balance back to the country.

[DieboldMustDie]

7. I've long wondered how right wingers expect the U.S...

to maintain preeminence in the world -- military and otherwise -- while exporting our entire industrial base. God, how can these people be so short sighted?

[bemildred]

12. They prefer presiding over the ruins.

An educated and empowered people cannot be ruled under
a democratic political organization, hence the technological
elites must be kept small and isolated.

[struggle4progress]

16. It makes sense if their real allegience ...

is not to "America" but to "International Capital." The large international companies dwarf historic states/countries.

[NuttyFluffers]

11. add the betrayal of our monied super-elite

by dodging taxes and demanding subsidies, grants, and loans just the same and refusing to reinvest back into america and you get a (everyone's favorite word of the year) *trifecta* of woes applying pressure to our now fragile economy.

honestly, 4 more years of this boob and we will be destroyed.

[enki23]

13. wait... didn't he just write the rose "the secret of our sauce"

a few weeks ago, talking up the superiority of american ingenuity over that found anywhere else in the world? the story, way back then, was of course we're better than them. we're *americans.* globalization is our game, and we can't possibly lose.

[Cocoa]

14. I love when Friedman pretends to criticize Bush

he's an Alan Colmes liberal.