Saturday, January 5, 2013

Thomas Friedman, "More Risk-Taking, Less Poll-Taking": Slapped in the Face by Reality

The 2012 presidential election was a disaster for the United States, inasmuch as neither candidate was capable of presenting a viable plan to reinvigorate the economy and bring expenses under control. US national debt? Some $16.4 trillion and growing much faster than G.D.P.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "More Risk-Taking, Less Poll-Taking" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/opinion/sunday/friedman-more-risk-taking-less-poll-taking.html?_r=0), Thomas Friedman belatedly acknowledges that the American economy, with Obama at the helm, is headed for an iceberg:

"Obama has spent a lot of time lately bashing the rich to pay their 'fair share.' You know what? There are definitely some Wall Street bankers and C.E.O.’s who deserve that bashing. But there are many successful Americans who got their wealth the old-fashioned way — by risk-taking, going into debt to start a business or pursue a dream. It’s time for the president to do some risk-taking — to stop just hammering the wealthy, which is so easy, and to start selling the country on a strategy to multiply them. We need to tax more millionaires, but we also need more millionaires and middle classes to tax. The president was elected to grow our national pie, not just re-divide it."

A pity Friedman couldn't risk making these kind of noises prior to November.

No comments:

Post a Comment