One more reason the world can no longer afford the luxury that is war

"In this increasingly interdependent world, we have few pure “enemies” anymore: Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Al Qaeda, the Taliban. But we have many “frenemies,” or half friends/half foes. While the Pentagon worries about a war with China, the Commerce Department is trying to get China to buy more Boeing planes and every American university worth its salt is opening a campus in Beijing; meanwhile, the Chinese are investing in American companies left and right. President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela is the biggest thorn in America’s side in Latin America and a vital source of our imported oil. The U.S. and Russia are on opposing sides in Syria, but the U.S. supported Russia joining the World Trade Organization and American businesses are lobbying Congress to lift cold war trade restrictions on Russia so they can take advantage of its more open market."

--Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/opinion/its-mitts-world.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120905

A lesson for the leaders of Kansas City. And the country

Besides the excellent article yesterday in The New York Times on the need and intelligence of cutting the US' defense/military budget, there was another terrific one by Thomas L. Friedman (a last, before his 4 month sabbatical so he can write a book) on the hard choices we, as Americans, are going to have to start making if we're going to have balanced budgets.  And a working society.

He cites one Kasim Reed, Atlanta, Georgia's relatively new Mayor and what he's done for and with the city.  It's an important article and one which I'd recommend you read (see link below).

Rather than cover the article, I want to merely quote Mr. Reed here, as a lesson for mayors of cities, legislators in state and federal governments and even for you and me--"Mr., Mrs. and Ms. America", as it were:

“We are not going to be what we have been for the last 50 years if we don’t change, and everybody in a position to have more than two people listening to them needs to be saying that, because the time we have to make the adjustments is running out. We need to get on with it. Whether it’s the deficit, education or investing in young people or immigration — we are not tackling [them] in the fundamental ways required. We’re just doing it piecemeal. We’re just playing and surviving. And we need to be very clear where just surviving takes you: it takes you to a lifestyle of just survival.”

“The bottom line is that for the country to do and to be what we have been ... there must be a generation tough enough to stick out its chin and take the hit. ... It is time to begin having the types of mature and honest conversations necessary to deal effectively with the new economic realities we are facing as a nation. We simply cannot keep kicking the can down the road.”

I hope people are listening and paying attention.

Link to original post:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26friedman.html?src=me&ref=general

Quote of the day--on transition

"We are leaving an era where to be a mayor, governor, senator or president was, on balance, to give things away to people. And we are entering an era where to be a leader will mean, on balance, to take things away from people. It is the only way we’ll get our fiscal house in order before the market, brutally, does it for us."     --Thomas L. Friedman, Columnist, The New York Times


Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26friedman.html?src=me&ref=general

Quote of the day--on China, the US and both our futures

China is doing moon shots. Yes, that’s plural. When I say “moon shots” I mean big, multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing investments. China has at least four going now: one is building a network of ultramodern airports; another is building a web of high-speed trains connecting major cities; a third is in bioscience, where the Beijing Genomics Institute this year ordered 128 DNA sequencers — from America — giving China the largest number in the world in one institute to launch its own stem cell/genetic engineering industry; and, finally, Beijing just announced that it was providing $15 billion in seed money for the country’s leading auto and battery companies to create an electric car industry, starting in 20 pilot cities. In essence, China Inc. just named its dream team of 16-state-owned enterprises to move China off oil and into the next industrial growth engine: electric cars. Not to worry. America today also has its own multibillion-dollar, 25-year-horizon, game-changing moon shot: fixing Afghanistan. --Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times Link to original post: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/opinion/26sun1.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Quote of the day II--Republican cooperation?

Can you imagine how high the stock market would soar and how easy a compromise with Democrats would become if Republicans offered an energy policy consistent with their values and our interests? What if the G.O.P. said: We will support a carbon tax provided one-third of the revenue goes toward cutting corporate taxes, one-third toward cutting payroll taxes for every working American and one-third toward paying down the deficit. The G.O.P. would actually help us get a better energy policy. Surely there are seven Republican senators who can see this. Aren’t there? Link to original post: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/opinion/21friedman.html?_r=2&hp

Training Afghanis for war? Really?

Why do we have to recruit and train our allies, the Afghan Army, to fight? That is like someone coming to you with a plan to recruit and train Brazilian boys to play soccer. If there is one thing Afghan males should not need to be trained to do, it’s to engage in warfare. That may be the only thing they all know how to do after 30 years of civil war and centuries of resisting foreign powers. After all, who is training the Taliban? They’ve been fighting the U.S. Army to a draw — and many of their commanders can’t even read. --Thomas L. Friedman, columnist, The New York Times Link to original story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/opinion/23friedman.html?src=me&ref=general