By posting this, it does not mean that I agree with this.  I do find some of the article "interesting", but don't agree with other parts.  I am just curious what you guys think.

Time to Reboot America

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: December 23, 2008

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman


I had a bad day last Friday, but it was an all-too-typical day for America.

It actually started well, on Kau Sai Chau, an island off Hong Kong, where I stood on a rocky hilltop overlooking the South China Sea and talked to my wife back in Maryland, static-free, using a friend’s Chinese cellphone. A few hours later, I took off from Hong Kong’s ultramodern airport after riding out there from downtown on a sleek high-speed train — with wireless connectivity that was so good I was able to surf the Web the whole way on my laptop.

Landing at Kennedy Airport from Hong Kong was, as I’ve argued before, like going from the Jetsons to the Flintstones. The ugly, low-ceilinged arrival hall was cramped, and using a luggage cart cost $3. (Couldn’t we at least supply foreign visitors with a free luggage cart, like other major airports in the world?) As I looked around at this dingy room, it reminded of somewhere I had been before. Then I remembered: It was the luggage hall in the old Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport. It closed in 1998.

The next day I went to Penn Station, where the escalators down to the tracks are so narrow that they seem to have been designed before suitcases were invented. The disgusting track-side platforms apparently have not been cleaned since World War II. I took the Acela, America’s sorry excuse for a bullet train, from New York to Washington. Along the way, I tried to use my cellphone to conduct an interview and my conversation was interrupted by three dropped calls within one 15-minute span.

All I could think to myself was: If we’re so smart, why are other people living so much better than us? What has become of our infrastructure, which is so crucial to productivity? Back home, I was greeted by the news that General Motors was being bailed out — that’s the G.M. that Fortune magazine just noted “lost more than $72 billion in the past four years, and yet you can count on one hand the number of executives who have been reassigned or lost their job.”

My fellow Americans, we can’t continue in this mode of “Dumb as we wanna be.” We’ve indulged ourselves for too long with tax cuts that we can’t afford, bailouts of auto companies that have become giant wealth-destruction machines, energy prices that do not encourage investment in 21st-century renewable power systems or efficient cars, public schools with no national standards to prevent illiterates from graduating and immigration policies that have our colleges educating the world’s best scientists and engineers and then, when these foreigners 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 the best of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial engineering rather than real engineering. These rocket scientists and engineers were 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 lives and productivity of millions.

For all these reasons, our present crisis is not just a financial meltdown crying out for a cash injection. We are in much deeper trouble. In fact, we as a country have become General Motors — as a result of our national drift. Look in the mirror: G.M. is us.

That’s why we don’t just need a bailout. We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover. That is why the next few months are among the most important in U.S. history. Because of the financial crisis, Barack Obama has the bipartisan support to spend $1 trillion in stimulus. But we must make certain that every bailout dollar, which we’re borrowing from our kids’ future, is spent wisely.

It has to go into training teachers, educating scientists and engineers, paying for research and building the most productivity-enhancing infrastructure — without building white elephants. Generally, I’d like to see fewer government dollars shoveled out and more creative tax incentives to stimulate the private sector to catalyze new industries and new markets. If we allow this money to be spent on pork, it will be the end of us.

America still has the right stuff to thrive. We still have the most creative, diverse, innovative culture and open society — in a world where the ability to imagine and generate new ideas with speed and to implement them through global collaboration is the most important competitive advantage. China may have great airports, but last week it went back to censoring The New York Times and other Western news sites. Censorship restricts your people’s imaginations. That’s really, really dumb. And that’s why for all our missteps, the 21st century is still up for grabs.

John Kennedy led us on a journey to discover the moon. Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

Oh I agree that the nations infrastructure could use an upgrade.  The execution of that upgrade though is the tricky part.  Undoubtedly there will be some who actively work against an upgrade because it conflicts with their agenda.

Another liberal saying that the government is what will lead us to the Promised Land. Going deeper into debt will save us! We shouldn't let the $1,000,000,000,000 bailout go to waste... as if we actually have that money and aren't borrowing it.

Ah, well. The liberals are in charge now that the neo-cons did such tremenous damage with their own time on top. Liberals will make the decisions. Maybe they'll prove me wrong and things will get better in the long run. If not, I'm sure they'll have a plethora of excuses as to What Went Wrong and how their best intentions were twisted by others to other nefarious purposes, at which they'll be aghast and dismayed.

I'll just wait and see what happens.

The crazy thing is no matter who is in power they will want more power. The line of difference between the two main parties is getting thinner and thinner. People can preach how their party is this and that but no matter what side says what they are more similar than they are different these days.

Originally posted by Tuor7

Another liberal saying that the government is what will lead us to the Promised Land. Going deeper into debt will save us! We shouldn't let the $1,000,000,000,000 bailout go to waste... as if we actually have that money and aren't borrowing it.

Ah, well. The liberals are in charge now that the neo-cons did such tremenous damage with their own time on top. Liberals will make the decisions. Maybe they'll prove me wrong and things will get better in the long run. If not, I'm sure they'll have a plethora of excuses as to What Went Wrong and how their best intentions were twisted by others to other nefarious purposes, at which they'll be aghast and dismayed.

I'll just wait and see what happens.

No one is saying that government is the end-all be-all of human existence.  However, some aspects of our society are too large to affect change without a government mandate.  McDonald's didn't put a man on the moon or design the national power and transportation grids.

The point of this article is that these sort of advancements are possible if we only have the will.  I would rather have my tax dollars pay for a slew of new airports around the US than the systematic destruction and rebuilding of yet another middle eastern country.

Put american tax dollars to work for americans in america.

Hong Kong has been an economic hub of the world for some time...  And until '97 was under british rule.   If you want to judge China's as "ultra" modern I would ask that you visit all the major cities first.

As for America needing a re-boot... I agree with this on many levels.

Originally posted by gnomexxx

Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

The best thing Obama can do for the USA is resign before he takes office.

Originally posted by Dekron

Originally posted by gnomexxx

Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

The best thing Obama can do for the USA is resign before he takes office.

Oh, please.

None of you anti-Obama people have provided one credible reason why he won't be a  million times better than President Dipshit.

I saw gas for 85 cents today at two different gas stations

the whole anti-large government thing is pretty ridiculous when you look at how minor the additional corruption attached to more social programs is and how minor a change in the way we tax american people is when compared to  the benefits of the social programs and a better economic future as opposed to McCain's plans.

But seriously, the blue outways the orange here.

People who complain about "a little more tax here" and "less control because we have more social programs there" are ridiculous when you look at the big picture.

We only had 2 choices in the 2008 presidential election that could have resulted in new president (the independent had no chance). Either way would have resulted in an imperfect government. There is no way to have it perfect and decreasing social programs so you can save a dime and feel like your money wasn't ill spent is ridiculous when such a huge percentage will be spent on exactly what the social program intends to do and the program is extremely beneficial overall (and that's what people voted for, whether you like it or not (ie. complaining won't solve anything)). Nothing is perfect but of the two options in the last presidential election, I chose what would help more people and better benefit our economy, amen.

Once again, there is no such thing as a perfect government and while I'm preaching - war should always be the last option (something I think Obama would agree with more than McCain).

But I do love watching how humans constantly make excuses and fail at giving peace a chance.

Originally posted by kobie173

Originally posted by Dekron

Originally posted by gnomexxx

Obama needs to lead us on a journey to rediscover, rebuild and reinvent our own backyard.

The best thing Obama can do for the USA is resign before he takes office.

Oh, please.

None of you anti-Obama people have provided one credible reason why he won't be a  million times better than President Dipshit.

George Herbert Walker Bush came up with the perfect plan to lower American's taxes.

Just wait, when the 2008 income tax returns are filed you will see the amount of taxes paid over to the US Treasury drop significantly. Bush's economic reforms promise that this trend will continue well into 2009.

Obama, on the other hand, is promising to raise American's taxes by creating jobs.

You dang liberals just don't get it, do ya? You always want to give people stuff, like a paycheck. Geez....

You want better infrastructure here in the good old USA then you make our people work for cheap. The problem is Americans are naturally lazy due to culture, advertising and other things. Other countries are ahead because they have cheap labor and have good sound cultural fundamentals. I do not think America will ever lead into the future.

The problem with Americans is we want it now and we want it cheap. The philosophy is flawed in a modern world where people strive to advance and we strive to be more synical in others hastly advances. It's like we are looking forward to being cavemen again.

Originally posted by Tyres100

 Other countries are ahead because they have cheap labor and have good sound cultural fundamentals.

Nobody gets ahead with cheap labor. The only thing those countries are getting ahead in is making the wealthy money. Cultures have always advanced with the growth and development of the middle class. It’s no mistake that America's greatest achievements came after World War II and the GI Bill that allowed working class people to go to college in mass for the first time. It's also no mistake now that our economy is stagnating after several decades of neglecting the needs of the middle class in favor of big business and Government, to the point that you can barely tell the two apart.

I would really like to know how you see this low paid culturally sound workforce supporting the advanced information society our global economy demands?

I think it's much more likely that your cries for cheap labor are the result of economic crisis and if taken to there ultimate conclusion will produce an outcome where the only the strong survive and money is isolated in the hands of a very few. Only when that money is allowed to actually trickle down will you have a culture that grows and a civilization capable of leadership.
 

Y'all conservative who won't write or call your representatives, you can "insert cool insult to make people think you are intelligent here with links to wikipedia and blogs as facts."

Y'all liberals who won't write or call your representatives, you can "insert cool insult to make people think you are intelligent here with links to wikipedia and blogs as facts."

Did I forget anyone?

Originally posted by Briansho

Y'all conservative who won't write or call your representatives, you can "insert cool insult to make people think you are intelligent here with links to wikipedia and blogs as facts."

 

Y'all liberals who won't write or call your representatives, you can "insert cool insult to make people think you are intelligent here with links to wikipedia and blogs as facts."

Did I forget anyone?

You forgot the Libertarians. But, our only representative is Ron Paul, and unfortunately there is much to dislike about Dr. Paul.

As for Hong Kong.. the writer in the article the OP pasted obviously has no idea what its like in Tibet, which is an area governed by the highly advanced People's Republic. Hong Kong is one of the most advanced CITIES in the world, true, but China at large remains extremely backwards and rual.

Tibet's cities have been greatly advanced by Chinese rule. Their rural area's too.

Perhaps you have not seen what they used to be like when the place was an independant iron age fuedal society 50 years ago.

That place was positively medieval. Horsemen with spears. That sort of thing.
Now they have shopping malls police stations and people dressed in suits. Elected governments instead of brutal warlords.

It would be a mistake to look at the Dalai Lama and imagine that the natural state of Tibet is to be a peaceful country of holy people in search of enlightenment. That place has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century completely against it's will.

And given the slightest chance to do so it intends to revert itself as fast as humanly possible.