
Taking On the World - how the U.S. can become competitive again - nickb
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120736007257191763.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
======
timburks
I was just re-reading Robert Cringley's piece on the move from education to
certification.

[http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080321_0045...](http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080321_004574.html)

Of Malone's suggestions (to Washington), "making education more open" is the
one thing that can most easily be done at the grass-roots level by parents.

Quoting Malone, "Why, when mom and dad are multitasking jobs at their laptops
at Starbucks, are classrooms still bastions of rigid hours and even more rigid
schedules?" Why, indeed. Furthering the missed opportunity, many of the
younger children of our most educated and creative are being raised by nannies
and missing out on the chance to learn by absorbing their parents' winning
ways.

~~~
lamaw
Enter my open-sourced, BigCo-praised biz plan, online at
<http://www.loveatmadisonandwall.com>.

An excerpt:

1: Learn how the introduction of particular online markets, starting with a
new kind of market for the ad spaces on blogs, will provide people with new
and improved ways to develop, showcase and profit from expertise. Details >>

2: Learn why owning popular markets of the aforesaid kinds is an ideal way to
increase profits for an American media conglomerate that owns a broadcast TV
network. >>

3: Recognize that the aforesaid conglomerates are actively seeking to acquire
Internet startups. >>

\----

If the plan is so good, why am I open-sourcing it?

Some time ago, I set out to develop a sitcom that showcases the best ways to
leverage the Internet to expand educational and economic opportunity.

The biz plan took shape because it turns out that producing this sitcom is
inseparable from launching the online markets described in the plan, not least
because:

1\. starting a markets-maker costs money

2\. raising money from investors is easier if the marketing plan is good

3\. a sitcom is an ideal centerpiece of a marketing plan (e.g., a plan for
operating marketing as a profit center)

Best,

------
pg
Did it stop being competitive?

~~~
timburks
No. Malone didn't write that; it's not so black and white. But there's plenty
of gray:

[http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDEUR=X&t=5y&l=on&#...</a><p>The silver
lining is that Americans can now get a lot more dollars for the things that we
sell abroad.

------
Tichy
That article seems to subscribe to a zero-sum game view of economics, whereas
in reality, it could be more of a win-win situation.

------
pmorici
Does anyone else find this article slightly contradictory? On one hand they
are advocating abolishing government involvement in business then, two
paragraphs later, they want government subsidies. Subsidies and regulations
are one in the same, different modes to the same goal, government control.

------
uuilly
I think the US should put satellites in orbit that provide free internet to
people with the proper dish. We could distribute small digitally identifiable
satellite dishes to less free countries. By default they would be disabled.
But if a government ever decided to black out communications for a crackdown
we could enable all of our dishes in that country. It wouldn't be perfect but
if you made the dish small and cheap enough you could get a bunch of them to
the right people via intel channels. The goal being more pictures like this:
[http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/conflict/images...](http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/conflict/images/tank-1.jpg)

------
logjam
Absolutely (it is the Wall Street Journal, after all). I do agree with some of
what Malone says re: free speech on the Net.

However, this is big business' usual schtick....hypocritically arguing _for_
corporate corporate welfare, while decrying assistance for individuals. He's
confusing "the U.S." with "U.S. corporations". They are _not_ the same thing.

