Tom Friedman: Time to Reboot America

"The World is Flat" author Tom Friedman has a great opinion piece up on nytimes.com about the necessity for rebooting America, infrastructure first.

"That’s why we don’t just need a bailout. We need a reboot. We need a build out. We need a buildup. We need a national makeover. That is why the next few months are among the most important in U.S. history. Because of the financial crisis, Barack Obama has the bipartisan support to spend $1 trillion in stimulus. But we must make certain that every bailout dollar, which we’re borrowing from our kids’ future, is spent wisely.

It has to go into training teachers, educating scientists and engineers, paying for research and building the most productivity-enhancing infrastructure — without building white elephants. Generally, I’d like to see fewer government dollars shoveled out and more creative tax incentives to stimulate the private sector to catalyze new industries and new markets. If we allow this money to be spent on pork, it will be the end of us."

You're dropping pearls, Tom. You had us at "bipartisan support."

Here's the full article.

Thank you to Tom Friedman for so eloquently summing up.