Shock Therapy

lexis de Tocqueville was a French aristocrat, born in 1805, who visited the United States in 1831 and 1832 with the intention o studying itsprisons. In 1835 he published

Democracy in America

, based on his travels and investigations. O all the thousands o books written about thiscountry, Tocqueville’s remains one o the best, with insights into American society, American values, American institutions, and the Americannational character that remain valid and relevant 175 years later.Suppose that Tocqueville, with his intellectual gits and powers o analysis, had been born in, say, 1970. His aristocratic background wouldhave had no bearing on his career. He probably would have gone to oneo France’s elite schools but might not have taken part in French poli-tics, as the original Tocqueville did. Nor would he necessarily havejoined, and risen in, the country’s national bureaucracy, as men o hiscaliber did or much o the twentieth century but did less requently atthat century’s end. Instead, he might well have continued his educationabroad. He might have studied history at an English university, spent aew years in Asia, earned a degree rom Harvard or Stanord businessschool, and then done what many people with a cosmopolitan background and analytical gits did at the end o the twentieth century andthe beginning o the twenty-frst: join an international consulting frm.Suppose, urther, that that frm was commissioned by a large multinational corporation to prepare, under Tocqueville’s direction, an assessment o the United States as a place in which to invest and to dobusiness in the second decade o the twenty-frst century and beyond.The report that emerged rom that assessment would be the work o

SHOCK THERAPY

many hands, flled with charts, graphs, statistics, and PowerPoint presentations. Tocqueville himsel would likely write the conclusion, basedon his own travels, conversations, and ruminations. We think it mightread something like this:

Twenty years ago, even ten years ago, a report such as this one wouldnever have been commissioned. The United States was the best country inthe world or business o any kind, the one with the largest and most openmarket, the most transparent legal system with the strongest propertyrights, the biggest and most efcient fnancial system, the most moderninrastructure, and the most dynamic ongoing research and developmentin almost every feld. It was a magnet or capital and talent. No companyo any size, indeed no company that merely aspired to international growth, could aord not to operate there, and none needed a consultant totell it that

Now, alas, things are dierent. Over the past decade especially, America has changed, and not or the better. The country still has many o itsmajor and distinctive economic strengths, but worrying signs o stagnation, and even decline, have begun to appear. Unemployment remainsstubbornly high even though the Great Recession o 2007–2009 has ofcially ended and productivity is at rec ord levels. The ederal budget defcitkeeps rising, without a credible long-term plan to bring it truly under control. Consumption o oreign oil keeps rising as well, also without anystrategy or reducing it. American students consistently score lower on international achievement tests than their age-mates in other countries. Thecountry’s roads are crowded, its public transportation systems are decaying, its bridges occasionally collapse. Major American frms are movingresearch-and-development acilities outside the United States. Low-skilled immigrants arrive in the country illegally in large numbers, while America ails to take steps to attract and keep the best-educated and most energeticpeople rom abroad, the kind who have ounded and built so many high-tech enterprises. The national debate is consumed by absurd distractions,such as establishing beyond a doubt that the president was born in theUnited States, or increasingly partisan social issues, such as abortion,with scant time and attention paid to discussing the undamental changesin the world in which Americans are living and the need to adjust tothem

Americans understand that something is amiss, and they worry about

of 00

deleted_fbuser_1316627043

is reading READ ,DOWNLOAD -Quran English translation amd commentary by Yusuf Ali.

reply09 / 09 / 2011

Scribd

Check out a chapter from the exciting new book "That Used To Be Us" by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum!

reply09 / 08 / 2011

Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum: That Used to Be Us

Read the chapter "Shock Therapy" from the new book THAT USED TO BE US: HOW AMERICA FELL BEHIND IN THE WORLD IT INVENTED AND HOW WE CAN COME BACK, written by #1 New Yor... (More)

Download or Print

8,328 Reads

Info and Rating

Category:	Books - Non-fiction > Politics
Rating:
Upload Date:	09/06/2011
Copyright:	Traditional Copyright: All rights reserved
Tags:	Politics Education China environment America Friedman obama solution climate change (more tags) Politics Education China environment America Friedman obama solution climate change New York Times world is flat mandelbaum that used to be us (fewer)