Posted on 03/24/2008 5:32:41 PM PDT by forkinsocket
We used to be the world's most skillful entrepreneurs and managers. Now we're laughingstocks. What happened?
The dollar plunged to new lows against foreign currencies this week. There are plenty of reasons for its plunge, but at the most basic level, the dollar's weakness reflects the world's collective, two-thumbs-down verdict about the ability of the United States—businesses, individuals, the government, the Federal Reserve—to manage the global financial system and the world's largest economy. Countries that outsourced their monetary policy by pegging domestic currencies to the dollar are having second thoughts. Kuwait last year detached the dinar from the dollar, and Qatar government officials last week said they were considering doing the same with their currency. International financiers are unnerved by the toxic combination of "misplaced assumptions about housing, a lack of necessary regulation and irresponsible use of debt with sophisticated financial instruments," said Ashraf Laidi, currency strategist at CMC Markets.
Dissing American financial management is an affront to national pride tantamount to standing in Rome and asking, loudly, if Italians are able to make pasta. The United States invented the concept and practice of running large, complex systems. Along with baseball and deep-frying, management is one of our great national pastimes. The world's first MBAs were awarded by pioneering yuppie factories such as the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. (Wharton's founding in 1881 was quickly followed by the world's first time-share summer houses in the Hamptons.) Henry Ford's revolutionary assembly line was the gold standard in global manufacturing for decades. Contemporary American institutions stand for excellence in managing everything from supply chains (Wal-Mart) to delivery services (Federal Express and UPS).
Americans' ability to manage complex systems has been the ultimate competitive advantage.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
LOL Exactly
Pssst! Don't mention Airbus or aerial tankers, O.K.?
Or the domestic content of the 787. Given the trend, one has to wonder if the 797 (if there is one) will be built entirely overseas.
It was reported here Boeing was contracting out engineering work for their new products. Sounds like Boeing plans to eventually just become a marketing concept.
Sort of like Black and Decker has become.
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