Time to reboot! To top it off, we’ve fallen into a trend of diverting and rewarding the best of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial engineering rather than real engineering. These rocket scientists and engineers were designing complex financial instruments to make money out of money — rather than designing cars, phones, computers, teaching tools, Internet programs and medical equipment that could improve the lives and productivity of millions
- From: Doc Holliday <dokholliday@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 04:55:39 -0800 (PST)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/opinion/24friedman.html?_r=4
snip>
My fellow Americans, we can’t continue in this mode of “Dumb as we
wanna be.” We’ve indulged ourselves for too long with tax cuts that we
can’t afford, bailouts of auto companies that have become giant wealth-
destruction machines, energy prices that do not encourage investment
in 21st-century renewable power systems or efficient cars, public
schools with no national standards to prevent illiterates from
graduating and immigration policies that have our colleges educating
the world’s best scientists and engineers and then, when these
foreigners graduate, instead of stapling green cards to their
diplomas, we order them to go home and start companies to compete
against ours.
To top it off, we’ve fallen into a trend of diverting and rewarding
the best of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial engineering
rather than real engineering. These rocket scientists and engineers
were designing complex financial instruments to make money out of
money — rather than designing cars, phones, computers, teaching tools,
Internet programs and medical equipment that could improve the lives
and productivity of millions.
For all these reasons, our present crisis is not just a financial
meltdown crying out for a cash injection. We are in much deeper
trouble. In fact, we as a country have become General Motors — as a
result of our national drift. Look in the mirror: G.M. is us.
That’s why we don’t just need a bailout. We need a reboot. We need a
build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover. That is why
the next few months are among the most important in U.S. history.
Because of the financial crisis, Barack Obama has the bipartisan
support to spend $1 trillion in stimulus. But we must make certain
that every bailout dollar, which we’re borrowing from our kids’
future, is spent wisely.
It has to go into training teachers, educating scientists and
engineers, paying for research and building the most productivity-
enhancing infrastructure — without building white elephants.
Generally, I’d like to see fewer government dollars shoveled out and
more creative tax incentives to stimulate the private sector to
catalyze new industries and new markets. If we allow this money to be
spent on pork, it will be the end of us.>end snip
Peace,
Doc
.
- Prev by Date: "The Dignity" relief boat hit by Israeli ship: Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney: January 1, 2009 - We Lived to Tell the Story: Lebanon Rescued Us
- Next by Date: > Obama to Use Mandingo Powers to Make Pelosi and Reid His Bitches
- Previous by thread: "The Dignity" relief boat hit by Israeli ship: Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney: January 1, 2009 - We Lived to Tell the Story: Lebanon Rescued Us
- Next by thread: Re: Time to reboot! To top it off, we’ve fallen into a trend of diverting and rewarding the best of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial engineering rather than real engineering. These rocket scientists and engineers were designing complex financial instruments to make money out of money — rather than designing cars, phones, computers, teaching tools, Internet programs and medical equipment that could improve the lives and productivity of millions
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
