NationStates Jolt Archive

The book was written by Thomas Friedman. I was in the US with my mum and dad and brother to visit my uncle, and I saw Friedman talking about his book on 'The daily show' on Comedy Central (One of the funniest programs on TV anywhere, it helps me cope with american TV)

I knew the guy had written the lexus and the olive tree, which i liked a lot. And he also wrote a book about middle east in the early 90's.

So on the journey home, I bought the book at dulles before our flight. I thought it was great.

Anyone who read it got anything to say? i think this man has got the right idea about globalisation and outsourcing. He also makes a good argument as to why some of islamic extremeisim exists.

Its true that if we had stopped the industrial revolution, we would all still be farmers and labourers.

Protectionist arguments are very short term and limited. A little pain in the short term will mean greater prosperity in the long term.

It wouldnt have been such a bad idea to stop industrialisation. We would still have the moralistic government, instead of this pseudo-communsitic libtard gov't.


But hey, get rid of guns, and get rid of crime, right?

Wrong. Look at Britain.

spending 3000 pounds (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/3594487.stm) on 20 cardboard cutout cops (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/2990875.stm) ...

It wouldnt have been such a bad idea to stop industrialisation. We would still have the moralistic government, instead of this pseudo-communsitic libtard gov't.


But hey, get rid of guns, and get rid of crime, right?

Wrong. Look at Britain.

spending 3000 pounds (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/3594487.stm) on 20 cardboard cutout cops (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/2990875.stm) ...


What?

Also, your government is anything pseudo-communistic.

Why do you think we have less (gun) crime and prefer to walk on the pavement instead of driving.

That was hardly on-topic either.

never heard of it

how about some pithy quotes covering the most interesting parts?

I will go find the book, and find a few good ones.

Im not going to do that actually, It'll take too long. Ill find a book review and post a link to it here.

Heres some quotes froma review:

"In the future globalization is going to be increasingly driven by the individuals who understand the flat world, adapt themselves quickly to the processes and technologies."

Tom stresses that globalization helps the small firms as much as the big firms, perhaps even more. As the owner of a small firm, I agree. Tom quotes UPS CEO Mike Eskew: "You know who the majority of our customers and partners are? Small businesses. They are asking us to take them global. We help these companies achieve parity with the bigger guys."

Tom talks about Eriksen Translations, a New York-based translation firm featured in my firm's Savvy Client’s Guide to Translation Agencies. Tom mentions how Eriksen embraced Skype, the VoIP service that is revolutionizing the telecoms industry. After the first six months of using Skype, the company cut phone costs by 10%. I only wish Tom had talked a bit more about translation agencies – these firms have been outsourcing work for decades and have always been early adopters of new technologies, from email to VoIP.

"The Indians and Chinese are not racing us to the bottom. They are racing us to the top." The Lenovo/IBM deal is one example. And just wait until Chinese automakers start making their way into the US…

"China has more than 160 cities with a population of one million or more."
Wow.