Is it bad if I think mouse bait smell tasty?
I started packing for Europe today. Only a week until I leave. I have loaded my backpack with weights and have been hiking up and down the road at night to get prepared. I think the neighbors are freaked out to see some guy hiking by late at night in a black stocking cap and a big backpack.
I took a couple of pictures of the farm the other day. You can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/barneykropf/.
I know there are people out there that believe the US should take an isolationist policy as it relates to trade. They believe we should slap on high tariffs and penalize companies for outsourcing production. Let me just say that they are wrong, in my humble but educated opinion. Trade is good! There is a book out called ‘The World is Flat’ by Thomas Friedman which discusses the implications of globalization on the world. Have I read it, no…does it agree with me…from the article I read on the book I believe it does. I hope to read it soon though. In summation, the world is quickly becoming one large economy where individuals can communicate to anyone, anytime, anywhere. The quicker people get on board with it and plan for wait to capitalize on where the world is going the better off everyone will be.
A Gap Year: Destination Europe 
I read the book…it is good.
By: kara on March 6, 2008
at 10:45 pm
Two books to read, which offer a counterperspective to Friedman’s “The World is Flat.”
The Harvard Professor, Pankaj Ghemawat’s latest book, “Redefining Global Strategy,” is more academically inclined. I read an article of his published in the journal, “Foreign Policy”, where he argues that the world is, at best, only semi-globalized. His argument being that Cultural, Administrative, Geographic and Economic aspects of a nation come in the way of total globalization from taking place and cites examples of the same.
The other small, but interesting book, is by Aronica and Ramdoo, “The World is Flat? A Critical Analysis of Thomas Friedman’s New York Times Bestseller.” It is a small book compared to the 600 page tome by Friedman, and aimed at the common man and students alike. As popular as the book may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman’s book is dangerous. The authors point to the fact that there isn’t a single table or data footnote in Friedman’s entire book. “Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution,” says Aronica. Aronica and Ramdoo conclude by listing over twenty action items that point the way forward, and they provide a comprehensive, yet concise, framework for understanding the critical issues of globalization.
You may want to see http://www.mkpress.com/flat
and watch http://www.mkpress.com/flatoverview.html
for an interesting counterperspective on Friedman’s
“The World is Flat”.
Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! http://www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html
There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
http://www.mkpress.com/extreme
http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html
By: concerned citizen on March 10, 2008
at 6:15 am