Anthony J. Pennings, PhD

WRITINGS ON DIGITAL STRATEGIES, ICT ECONOMICS, AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS

The Price of Neglect

Posted on | October 8, 2011 | No Comments

I don’t always agree with Tom Friedman but the guy thinks about important questions and is an active contributor to major economic debates. Lately he has been promoting his new book with Michael Mandelbaum on the American predicament called That Used to be US: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back. They list the main challenges for America as they see it:

  • Globalization
  • Information technologies
  • National debt
  • Patterns of energy usage

I like this interview on Charlie Rose.

Their basic contention is that America is neglecting the basic formula which has made it great. And that is the focus on four aspects of American society that require some collective action:

  • Educate people up to the latest developments in science and technology
  • Rebuild American infrastructure such as airports, energy, roads, and telecommunications
  • Open up immigration to allow the brightest and hardest working to come to America
  • Restructure investment capabilities to support innovation and production capabilities

We’ll see if I have more to say on the book after I get some more time to read it. I like their focus on collective action but unfortunately too many Americans believe government investments go to someone besides them. Collective action for them means bailing out Wall Street, providing healthcare benefits for illegal aliens, overpaying government bureaucrats, or providing welfare for people who don’t want to work. And while a case can be made for each of these arguments, we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. This is the real tragedy of our times.

Anthony

Anthony J. Pennings, PhD has been on the NYU faculty since 2001 teaching digital media, information systems management, and global communications. © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Category: democratic political economies

Comments

Comments are closed.

  • Referencing this Material

    Copyrights apply to all materials on this blog but fair use conditions allow limited use of ideas and quotations. Please cite the permalinks of the articles/posts.
    Citing a post in APA style would look like:
    Pennings, A. (2015, April 17). Diffusion and the Five Characteristics of Innovation Adoption. Retrieved from http://apennings.com/characteristics-of-digital-media/diffusion-and-the-five-characteristics-of-innovation-adoption/
    MLA style citation would look like: "Diffusion and the Five Characteristics of Innovation Adoption." Anthony J. Pennings, PhD. Web. 18 June 2015. The date would be the day you accessed the information. View the Writing Criteria link at the top of this page to link to an online APA reference manual.

  • About Me

    Professor at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, digital economics, and strategic communications.

    You can reach me at:

    apennings70@gmail.com
    anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr

    Follow apennings on Twitter

  • About me

  • Writings by Category

  • Flag Counter

  • Pages

  • Calendar

    April 2021
    M T W T F S S
     1234
    567891011
    12131415161718
    19202122232425
    2627282930  

  • Disclaimer

    The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers, past or present.