Posted on 10/20/2004 11:58:57 AM PDT by qam1
Sometimes it’s useful to stand back and ask yourself: If I could vote for anyone for president other than George W. Bush or John Kerry, whom would I choose? I’d choose Bill Cosby — on the condition that he would talk as bluntly to white parents and kids about what they need to do if they want to succeed as he did to black kids and parents a few months ago.
The one thing that has gone totally missing, not only from this election, but from American politics, is national leaders who are actually ready to level with the public and even criticize their own constituencies. The columnist Michael Kinsley once observed that in American politics “a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.” We could use a few really big gaffes right now. Because we have not one, but three baby booms bearing down at us, and without a massive injection of truth-telling they could all explode on the next president’s watch.
The leading edge of the American baby boom generation is now just two presidential terms away from claiming its Social Security and Medicare benefits. “With unfunded entitlement liabilities at $74 trillion in today’s dollars — an amount far exceeding the net worth of our entire national economy — and with payroll taxes needing to double to cover the projected costs of Social Security and Medicare, how can any serious person not call entitlement reform the transcendent domestic policy issue of our era?” asks former Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson, whose book on this subject, Running on Empty, provides a blueprint for a bipartisan solution to this problem for any president daring to lead.
The second group of boomers barreling down the highway are the young people in India, China and Eastern Europe, who in this increasingly flat world will be able to compete with your kids and mine more directly than ever for high-value-added jobs.
Attention Wal-Mart shoppers: The Chinese and the Indians are not racing us to the bottom. They are racing us to the top.
Young Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs are not content just to build our designs. They aspire to design the next wave of innovations and dominate those markets. Good jobs are being outsourced to them not simply because they’ll work for less, but because they are better educated in the math and science skills required for 21st-century work.
When was the last time you met a 12-year-old who told you he or she wanted to grow up to be an engineer? When Bill Gates goes to China, students hang from the rafters and scalp tickets to hear him speak. In China, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America, Britney Spears is Britney Spears.
We need a Bill Cosby-like president to tell all parents the truth: Throw out your kid’s idiotic video game, shut off the TV, and get Johnny and Suzy to work, because there is a storm coming their way.
The third group of boomers our next president will have to deal with is from the Arab world. The Arab region has had the highest rate of population growth in the world in the last half century. It has among the highest unemployment rates in the world today. And one-third of the Arab population is under the age of 15 and will soon be entering both a barren job market and its child-bearing years. There are eight Saudis under age 15 for every one between ages 45 and 60.
This is why I believed so strongly in trying to partner with the people of Iraq to establish some sort of decent government there that might serve as a beachhead for more progressive governance in the Arab world. I have not given up hope for this, but it may turn out that we made too many mistakes and that Iraqis are too divided for such a project to succeed.
If so, the next president is going to need plan B — some combination of oil conservation that reduces our exposure to this region, a new military strategy and a renewed focus on promoting better government there through diplomatic and economic means. The Arab world is not even close to educating its baby boomers with the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century. Left untended, this trend is a prescription for humiliation and suicide terrorism.
I realize that elections are no time to expect honesty from politicians. But we’re in this hole because the political season used to stop on Election Day. Now it’s a permanent campaign. That is simply not a luxury our next president will have. The boomers are coming — from three directions — and we will not be able to deal with them without a president with a real penchant for gaffes of honesty.
Mr. Friedman’s latest book is Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social aspects that directly effects Gen-Reagan/Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations (i.e. The Baby Boomers) are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
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I like Bill Cosby, but I don't think I'd want him fighting the war on terror.
Ummmm.... the leading edge of the baby boomers will be 62 in 2006, just two years away. Closer than the writer thinks.
In spite of his typical (in this case, almost subtle) anti Bush vitriol, and his completely predictable blind faith in "the Fast World" (an intellectual utopian fiction whereby nation states cease to exist and the entire world becomes a giant shopping mall run by "centrist" DLC technocrats) Friedman (aka "Freakman") actually makes some good points regarding the abject failure of native born Americans to get educated in technology and science. Of course, it is a bit chicken and egg - with the outsourcing and offshoring already done the incentive to undertake difficult courses of study is lessened.
This stupid bit about Bill Gates in China. Kids today are preparing themselves for the future by NOT becoming engineers. They realize they can make a fortune by doing other things, like lazily writing for the NY Times.
Friedman has little grasp on anything. At least he could have name dropped and bragged about some foreign country he visisted like he usually does.
Uh, let's see, my son is 13 and aspires to be a scientist. Already has his classes lined out for the first four college years and is applying to a polytech high school this year. Not all teens are slackers, y'know.
Thomas Friedman is an illustration of Heraclitus' dictum: "Much learning does not teach understanding." There may be a lot of young men in the Arab world, but for most of them the idea of a "boom" is a car bomb or becoming a suicide bomber.
Personally, I would vote in Ann Coulter for prez
China: gunpowder, fireworks, compasses (there's more, just can't recall, but they did have a rather advanced civilization way back)
India: Chess, numerals
WHen I went to NY Polytech, over half the students in the class were foreign born. Friedman may have a point - where are the Americans? Why were they less than half?
It was because of those stupid video games that I became an engineer. FWIW.
Chess? No kidding. Well thats all good, but anything in in the last millenium?
bump for later read
See the anti-DNC portal at http://www.noDNC.com
OOH! OOH! Let me answer! PICK ME! I know!
Is it because the U.S. has allowed outsourcing of engineering jobs, jobs that companies would be forced to pay more for labor here because of the smaller labor pool? Is it that the companies that hire engineers increasingly move offshore? Is it because the salaries have not gone up correspondingly and thus erstwhile engineering students are not as interested in engineering, since they can make more money in more stable fields? Is it because the engineering degree is extremely valuable (even paying what we consider a lower salary) in China and India because we H1-B engineering jobs, while here it makes much more sense to be an accountant or a lawyer here, since those jobs are almost never outsourced easily?
Or is it because schools hire people who don't know math and can't teach it in a way that inspires kids to continue in that area?
I would say a little from column A and a little from column B. Probably a bunch of the rest of the alphabet tossed in, too, but I think A is a very big reason.
Gee, so many more who are going to run roughshod over you...how can you stand it?
I just can't find it in my heart to discourage her. (And, yes. She wants to go to college. "Smart moms make smart kids.") I keep telling her that part of being a mom is closing the laundry room door, taking the kids fishing and planning soup and sandwiches for dinner. We can't forget to enjoy 'em!
Problem: that's ancient history.
Friedman does have a point.
But seeing these boards, it seems every1 is hoodwinked into the same theme, liberals and conservatives: that there is so much outsourcing.
1st off, I think you'll find it's mostly basic jobs being outsourced.
2nd, and this is what all need to know, there is also INSOURCING. Ever hear of Toyota et al coming in here?
To me, this outsourcing concern is alot of smoke&mirrors about nothing.
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