Friedman Cliff Notes

I guess I should start out by saying, "Happy New Year."  It has been awhile since my last post.

If you've wanted to read "Hot, Flat, and Crowded" by Thomas Freidman (of the World is Flat fame), but you haven't had the time, the Obama administration has posted cliff notes here.

I'll pull out 2 examples and then leave it to you to read the rest, if you so desire.

     To accelerate the creation of a clean energy economy, we will double our capacity to generate alternative sources of energy like wind, solar, and biofuels over the next three years. We’ll begin to build a new electricity grid that lay down more than 3,000 miles of transmission lines to convey this new energy from coast to coast. We’ll save taxpayers $2 billion a year by making 75% of federal buildings more energy efficient, and save the average working family $350 on their energy bills by weatherizing 2.5 million homes.


In the Recovery Plan Metrics Report, they go on to state there will be the installation of 40 million "Smart Meters" in American homes.  SmartMeters are currently being used, but the hope is to make them even more advanced.  Customers would have different pricing based on the current demand, and be rewarded with lower pricing when used when demand is low, like at night.  The intent is then to make smart appliances, etc, so that things run when the demand is lower,etc.  We could even sell back some of our stored power in our electric cars when demand is high to lower our bills.  Want to know more, read the book.


     Finally, we will rebuild and retrofit America to meet the demands of the 21st century. That means repairing and modernizing thousands of miles of America’s roadways and providing new mass transit options for millions of Americans. It means protecting America by securing 90 major ports and creating a better communications network for local law enforcement and public safety officials in the event of an emergency. And it means expanding broadband access to millions of Americans, so business can compete on a level-playing field, wherever they’re located.

Friedman is in favor of mass transit due to reduced emissions and less dependence on foreign oil and petrodictators (Chavez).

I voted for McCain, as many of you know.  That doesn't matter now.  We have a President, and being the good soldier I am, or was, I'll support him.  I believe everything mentioned above and much more has to be done to ensure America maintains it's leadership position in the world.  We are innovators, and we have gotten too relaxed and happy with ourselves.  There are millions of people in the world who are going to make up a new middle class.  We need to remember we are competing on a global scale.  Imagine if we innovated the next renewable energy breakthrough....and then we exported it.  It has the potential to sustain our position in the world, and make us a lot of money.


Regardless of who won, I believe these things had to happen.  I believe it would have been extremely difficult in good times to get any of what the Obama Administration is proposing passed.  As he states in his opening sentence, we are in a crisis.  This crisis has presented a once in a lifetime opportunity to make sweeping changes and investment all in the name of economic survivability.  I hope it is not squandered by him, Congress, or us.  Let's pay the price now so our children can benefit from our hard work.

And by the way, those really aren't Cliff notes (obviously!).  The ideas, however, seemed to match what Mr. Friedman proposes in his book.