Staying Competitive in a Global Economy

Currently I’m reading That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum. I’m about 1/3 through the book. They have an engaging thesis which centers on 4 major challenges of the post cold war world that we live in today. These are 1) the long term fiscal crisis, 2) remaining competitive in a global economy, 3) the information technology revolution, and 4) the energy crisis one. The current chapter is about the role of education, its importance in being competitive in a global economy. They note how the education system is letting us down by not being competitive relative to other countries, and that the economy needs more highly educated workers than it did 20 years ago.

Coincidently while going to HT before dinner, NPR was broadcasting an interview with Gary Hart. The discussion was about his landslide (10%) victory over Mondale in the New Hampshire primary. As an aside Hart mentioned that as a senator he put a lot of effort into trying to address two looming crisises for the US, globalization and the information technology revolution. He noted that he was not able to get the attention of his colleagues on these issues. Well, that caught my attention. First that he had the insights to have seen the issues so far back, second that our political system is still unable to engage the major real issues of our time.