Jeremy Daugherty ninthstar@hotmail.com

EDT 646 Spring 2006

Assignment VI: Compassionate Flatism

2-18-06

In chapter eight of the World is Flat Friedman introduces the idea of compassionate flatism. This idea basically suggests that in order for America(ns) to adjust while continuing to be competitive in a flat world there needs to be a set of measures in place allowing for a decrease in the amount stress which accompanies the transition. Freidman lists five key elements to achieve this ideal. These elements are Leadership, Muscles, Good Fat, Social Activism, and Parenting.

Leadership

Under the Leadership section Freidman states that it is the job of the American government whether at the local, state, or federal level to lead. This, in good part, entails educating and explaining to the populace about the world in which they now live and how too succeed in it. Further, politicians not only need to explain to people the flat world, they need to inspire their citizens to rise to the challenge of it. There is more to political leadership than a competition for who can offer the most lavish safety nets. Yes, we must address people’s fears, but we must also nurse their imaginations. Politicians can make us more fearful and thereby be disablers, or they can inspire us and thereby be enablers.

I agree with Friedman, though I wonder if this is actually possible. In recent months we have seen the government do nothing constructive to this end. In fact, most of what we see is a spread of fear by both the Democratic and Republican parties. It seems that politicians are more into their own well being than they are the state of affairs in our country. One suggestion I have to solve this is to instate sticker re-election limits on our elected officials so they are not constantly putting their re-election concerns over solving this country’s problems.

Muscles

Under this section the author suggests two ideas to help Americans adjust better to the flat world. These two ideas are described as portable benefits and opportunities for life long learning. Portable benefits is a system in which as an citizen of the U.S.A. you would have a main pension fund into which your individual 401k assets would automatically dump if you changed jobs. In support of this Friedman quotes research stating “….people who are stake holders, people who have a slice of the pie, are more deeply invested in our system of democratic capitalism and the policies that keep it dynamic.” Additionally under the portable benefits label would be health care plans run by the government from which companies/employees could choose. The idea here being by creating more centralized plans, with larger pools of users, companies would save money allowing more companies to offer more benefits.

The other idea contained in the “muscles” section is life long learning opportunities. Under the plan outlined by Friedman the government would cover the cost of the first two years of college for all graduating high school students. This, he hopes, would increase the skill level of employees and therefore the wage level at which they could work. Freidman also points out life long learning doesn’t just entail the government paying for college; it also entails companies providing employees with opportunities for cross training in order to develop more adaptable, “Swiss Army Knife” workers. These adaptable employees would offer a greater value to the company as well as to themselves should the company have to let them go.

Good Fat

Basically this section states that all fat, social programs, are not bad for the country. For instance, Friedman advocates keeping programs like Social Security, while cutting bad programs like the current unemployment system. Though he is not outright against unemployment, he believes the current system does not encourage a quick return to employment among its users. In order to right the system the book includes details of a program which would pay workers 50% of the difference between their previous wages and their new wages once they began a new job. Under this plan workers would be encouraged to procure new employment even if it was at a lower wage, in hopes that when this “wage insurance” ran out after 2 years they would be in a better paying position at their new company. For those who could not secure a job immediately the government would provide a 50% reduction in health insurance premiums for the first 6 months of unemployment.

Social Activism

This is the second to last major idea that the book lists in the compassionate flatism chapter. Here social activism is the idea of a company coming to grips with their need and power to promote positive social values. The chapter attempts to examine the effect of companies’ growing power to affect the world for social good or evil while maintaining their profits. The chapter advocates that companies must take an active roll in making the world a better place for everyone to live, stating if they don’t, the world will end up being ravaged in the name of profit.

Parenting

The last idea is simply put as “we need a new generation of parents ready to administer tough love: There comes a time when you’ve got to put away the GameBoys, turn off the TV, put away the iPod, and get your kids down to work.” Under proper parenting children will grow up understanding that they need to work hard and delay immediate gratification in order to achieve a high level of success in the flat employment market.

My Rankings

1. Parenting

2. Social Activism

3. Leadership

4. Muscles

5. Good Fat

Personally, I believe that every one of these changes relies on good parenting. By raising our children to understand and value hard work, team work, and morals over money we will have adults in companies and politics who are less self-seeking and more likely to embrace a more compassionate viewpoint of the world.

I ranked “Social Activism” second because companies do have more power than they would like to admit. They use this power right now to push governments around to get lower taxes and more freedom. I believe that if we had properly parented executives and these companies wanted profits on equal level with global betterment there would be much more done in favor towards social activism. I do agree with Friedman that this process is starting to show up in several companies, but I would suggest that short term profit pressures from Wall Street are still significantly limiting additional “social activism.”

In the third position I put leadership, because beyond companies the government has the most power. If the leadership of the government can unity and govern, instead of trying to get re-elected, it can set a vision for the United States. If however, we continue in our un-unified autonomous states we will suffer the slow death suggested in the previous chapter.

Next I listed “Muscles.” This is because I a very much in favor of companies taking the initiative for employee training. I also agree with a centralized account for automatically dumping old 401ks. What I don’t agree with is the government automatically paying for the first 2 years of everyone’s education. The G.I. Bill is sufficient enough for this. Again, with proper parenting, students who can’t afford college right away will utilize this resource. Paying for the first 2 years of college will not even the score between the rich and the poor anyway. The rich will still attend better colleges and get more opportunities. If a “poor” person learns to bide their time and work hard they are more likely to surpass the rich slacker later in life.

Last I listed the “Good Fat” government programs. This is because in my opinion government programs rarely ever work. There is always some kind of loop hole for people to take advantage of. These programs all sound great on paper, and I admit they may be better than the current system, but sometimes they are just too unfeasible. For instance, when I first moved to MI I got a job and was laid-off 5 months later. Then I got another job and was laid-off 3 months later. Under the rules outlined in the book I would never had gotten unemployment and would have ended up on the street. For me in both the situations I was not a bad employee, it was the companies going though financial difficulties that cause the removal of my positions.

Conclusion

In the end, I agree with the idea of compassionate flatism; though it does sadden me that the people of our country are in such great need of it. I hope that the future hold great things for the American people. I hope that our parents can be parents, that our government can lead our people, and that our companies recognize that short-term gain may end up killing the long-term market place.