We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover.
by Thomas L. Friedman
My fellow Americans, we can’t continue in this mode of “Dumb as wewanna be.” We’ve indulged ourselves for too long with tax cuts that wecan’t afford, bailouts of auto companies that have become giantwealth-destruction machines, energy prices that do not encourageinvestment in 21st-century renewable power systems or efficient cars,public schools with no national standards to prevent illiterates fromgraduating and immigration policies that have our colleges educatingthe world’s best scientists and engineers and then, when theseforeigners 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 thebest of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial engineeringrather than real engineering. These rocket scientists and engineerswere 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 livesand productivity of millions.
**We have a better idea, Mr. Friedman. –Ed.