Thomas Friedman

I've decided to review some of my musings over the past months and years to populate this...

Responding to a piece by Thomas Friedman, again in the NYTimes, dated May 4 2008, called 'Who Will Tell the People'. See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04friedman.html?ref=opinion for the article.

I've been reading Friedman for years, and even if I don't always agree with his position, I have to respect the questions he's asking.

Unfortunately, he's been writing pretty much the same, tired pieces for a while, but this appears to be (one of) his first piece(s) since he took book hiatus. I probably would have missed it when reading the paper.

I think you've been hearing me say this for a while, that one of the key sources of wealth is innovation (something I learned in biz school), and one of the key technologies for the future is bio...and Bush essentially killed that...along with a whole lot of other stuff that would either poise or engage this country for the future...and NO...we can't blame this on Clinton.

One thing Friedman doesn't hit on is that all the wealth seems to be going to the elite class (remember...the first action of the government was to make sure that the banks don't fail), failing to bring the rest of us up with the tide, and in fact doing quite the opposite. Not to say that the sub-prime crew isn't responsible for it's situation, but when you read about billionaires making more, you somehow think that maybe you are entitled to a piece (at least if you are willing to work hard).

The only real issue I have with this piece is the last paragraph. he says that people are waiting to be enlisted. That's very Soviet...instead, why aren't people (corporations, billionaires) taking the risk of the challenge? That's the real yearning that's been lost in this country.