Friedman on building a real economy PDF Print E-mail
Written by Stumo   
Sunday, 28 September 2008

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.  Thomas Friedman has never seen a trade agreement he did not like.  But he is right in penning this:

The point is, we don’t just need a bailout. We need a buildup. We need to get back to making stuff, based on real engineering not just financial engineering.

His buildup focuses on green industries, which is great, but there is more than that to build.  I will just briefly mention that it is too bad he cannot make the causal link between the anemic real economy and his wacko free trader views.

In a green economy, we would rely less on credit from foreigners “and more on creativity from Americans,” argued Van Jones, president of Green for All, and author of the forthcoming “The Green Collar Economy.” “It’s time to stop borrowing and start building. America’s No. 1 resource is not oil or mortgages. Our No. 1 resource is our people. Let’s put people back to work — retrofitting and repowering America. ... You can’t base a national economy on credit cards. But you can base it on solar panels, wind turbines, smart biofuels and a massive program to weatherize every building and home in America.” 

Yes, Mr. Friedman, we should lead the world in those parts of the economy.  But we should make and grow things across the economic spectrum, not just build up in the areas connected to your book on green industries.  

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written by Paul Muegge , September 29, 2008
I have just read Lester R. Brown's " ECO-ECONOMY". The opportunities are endless and with a sustainable mentality it will be the economic driver that we can and will attain. " We spend a lot of time worrying about our economic deficits,but it is the ecological deficits that threaten our long term economic future. Economic deficits are what we borrow from each other;ecological deficits are what we take from future generations" Lester Brown
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written by bob johns , September 28, 2008
If those concentrating on "green" would actually care to notice, the US is the greenest of global manufacturing centers. When we get past the hype of special interests one might actually find that the US leaves an even smaller carbon footprint per unit of output than the "green" EU that cannot meet its Kyoto numbers. Contrast that to the improvement in the US. All dots eventually connect. Can we be "greener?" Certainly. Does failure to look at "green" globally hurt this economy and its manufacturing potential? Most certainly. A "dirty little secret" is that our manufacturers are quite green. Where we can improve is balanced energy, including nuclear, and deal with our automobile situation. The fact that China emits over 7X carbon emissions per unit of production, India circa 4X, etc, is what some special interest groups should focus upon. Little things like the largest mercury polluter in the US being Chinese coal fired power plants (wonder if they ever heard of "clean coal" technology).... We eat the poisonous foods, breathe their mercury and our kids ingest their tainted toy coatings. Then there are the economic benefits to Americans who all benefit when we make stuff here. Not to mention farming healthful, safe and edible food here. Time for some eyes and ears to open up beyond special agendas.
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I say lets roll up our sleeves and get to work ASAP
written by Theresa Nielsen , September 28, 2008
We need productivity & real job creation not just "Money making MO Money" as in the current fractional reserve banking system which leaves bubbles of air and empty promises or dollar paper notes. The deficit that results with the bailouts along the further devaluation of our dollar is just the banks "making money from Mo Money" further taking us into dysfunction and imbalance in all market economies. smilies/shocked.gif
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