I read more from Thomas Friedman, the author of the "World is Flat". He also wrote "That Used to Be Us" along with Michael Mandelbaum, who is a leading foreign policy thinker. This book was more of a wake up call and a bit less optimistic than The "World is Flat". They describe four challenges that we face:
- globalization
- the revolution in information technology
- the nation’s chronic deficits
- our pattern of excessive energy consumption.
While they do offer solutions, with the current political climate, it is difficult to believe the solutions will be implemented.
The 2012 election is very much about restoring the American economy but it is hard to see that happening regardless of the outcome. Friedman and Mandelbaum do believe that the recovery of American greatness is within reach. They show how America’s history, offers a formula for prosperity that will enable us to cope successfully with the challenges we face.
Building on the success of his book, "Does IT Matter?" Nicholas Carr wrote "The Big Switch. " This looks at how a new computer revolution is reshaping business, society, and culture.
Another book with a similar theme, "The Third Industrial Revolution, " author Jeremy Rifkin discusses how internet technology and renewable energy will merge to create a powerful “Third Industrial Revolution.” He paints a picture where hundreds of millions of people produce their own green energy in their homes, offices, and factories, and share it with each other in an “energy internet,” just like we now create and share information online. He believes it will create thousands of businesses, millions of jobs, and bring us a new paradigm of human relationships. This change will facilitate a move from hierarchical to lateral power and will impact the way we conduct commerce, govern society, educate our children, and engage in civic life.
Michael Lewis in "Boomerang" takes on topics like European sovereign debt and the International Monetary Fund, making them comprehensible and fascinating. He gives us a guided tour through some of the differing places hard hit by the fiscal crisis of 2008, like Greece, Iceland and Ireland. He suggests how different people for very different reasons made grave economic errors with the cheap credit available. He is literally an economic disaster tourist as he travels to these countries to understand what went wrong. Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted money for everyone with little work. The Germans wanted to be even more German and the Irish wanted to stop being Irish. He also includes California and Washington, DC in his financial tourism. Lewis also wrote, "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" which was a bestselling 2010 book.
In "The Tyranny of Dead Ideas" by Matt Miller suggests that there are 6 dead ideas.
The 2012 election is very much about restoring the American economy but it is hard to see that happening regardless of the outcome. Friedman and Mandelbaum do believe that the recovery of American greatness is within reach. They show how America’s history, offers a formula for prosperity that will enable us to cope successfully with the challenges we face.
Building on the success of his book, "Does IT Matter?" Nicholas Carr wrote "The Big Switch. " This looks at how a new computer revolution is reshaping business, society, and culture.
Another book with a similar theme, "The Third Industrial Revolution, " author Jeremy Rifkin discusses how internet technology and renewable energy will merge to create a powerful “Third Industrial Revolution.” He paints a picture where hundreds of millions of people produce their own green energy in their homes, offices, and factories, and share it with each other in an “energy internet,” just like we now create and share information online. He believes it will create thousands of businesses, millions of jobs, and bring us a new paradigm of human relationships. This change will facilitate a move from hierarchical to lateral power and will impact the way we conduct commerce, govern society, educate our children, and engage in civic life.
Michael Lewis in "Boomerang" takes on topics like European sovereign debt and the International Monetary Fund, making them comprehensible and fascinating. He gives us a guided tour through some of the differing places hard hit by the fiscal crisis of 2008, like Greece, Iceland and Ireland. He suggests how different people for very different reasons made grave economic errors with the cheap credit available. He is literally an economic disaster tourist as he travels to these countries to understand what went wrong. Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted money for everyone with little work. The Germans wanted to be even more German and the Irish wanted to stop being Irish. He also includes California and Washington, DC in his financial tourism. Lewis also wrote, "The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine" which was a bestselling 2010 book.
In "The Tyranny of Dead Ideas" by Matt Miller suggests that there are 6 dead ideas.
1) each generation can expect a rising
standard of living
2) free trade is always good
3) employer-provided
healthcare benefits are the only way
4) tax rates are too high
5) local school financing is good and
6)
free market outcomes are just and fair.
The author contends only top business executives can spearhead new ideas since
power-driven politicians are incapable of such leadership. He suggests that the skill and speed with which people cope will be
the key to success and those slow to adapt will be punished faster and more
harshly.
And finally, I read "Republic Lost" by Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig. His focus was on what is wrong with the political system, in an era when special interests funnel huge amounts of money into our government. With recent changes in campaign-finance rules and brought to new levels by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, our trust in our government has reached an all-time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress, and that business interests wield control over our legislature.
His book describes how fundamentally good people, with good intentions, have allowed our democracy to be co-opted by outside interests, and how this exploitation has become entrenched in the system. Rejecting simple labels and using examples that resonate as powerfully on the Right as on the Left, Lessig seeks out the root causes of our situation. He reveals the human faces and follies that have allowed corruption to take such a foothold in our system. He puts the issues in terms that the average reader can understand. He ultimately calls for widespread mobilization and a new Constitutional Convention, presenting achievable solutions for regaining control of our corrupted-but redeemable-representational system. In this way, Lessig plots a roadmap for returning our republic to its intended greatness. While America may be divided, Lessig vividly champions the idea that we can succeed if we accept that corruption is our common enemy and that we must find a way to fight against it.
And finally, I read "Republic Lost" by Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig. His focus was on what is wrong with the political system, in an era when special interests funnel huge amounts of money into our government. With recent changes in campaign-finance rules and brought to new levels by the Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, our trust in our government has reached an all-time low. More than ever before, Americans believe that money buys results in Congress, and that business interests wield control over our legislature.
His book describes how fundamentally good people, with good intentions, have allowed our democracy to be co-opted by outside interests, and how this exploitation has become entrenched in the system. Rejecting simple labels and using examples that resonate as powerfully on the Right as on the Left, Lessig seeks out the root causes of our situation. He reveals the human faces and follies that have allowed corruption to take such a foothold in our system. He puts the issues in terms that the average reader can understand. He ultimately calls for widespread mobilization and a new Constitutional Convention, presenting achievable solutions for regaining control of our corrupted-but redeemable-representational system. In this way, Lessig plots a roadmap for returning our republic to its intended greatness. While America may be divided, Lessig vividly champions the idea that we can succeed if we accept that corruption is our common enemy and that we must find a way to fight against it.
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