Saturday, February 27, 2010

I am concerned for the competitiveness of the USA

The US continues to "offshore" manufacturing jobs. Yet, with the most expensive labor in the world, Germany continues to be the most succesful exporter of manufactured goods in the world per capita. Germany has an educational system geared to effectiveness, superb infrastructure, a strong support system for healthcare and the unemployed so that they are not a burden on industry. In the meanwhile, the US educational system is a two tier one, as is the healthcare system. Infrastructure, from roads to rail, bridges to electricity distribution is deteriorating. Most US exports are of commodities or financial services, whereas Germany exports primarily added-value manufactured products. We must learn to do the same.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sucessful entrepreurs are ignorant..

Of the really low chances of success they face, and are supremely self-confident. In order to initiate a business, being too aware of the chances of failure is a handicap. Most entrepreneurs underestimate the challenges they will face, but because they have total self-confidence, start the business anyway. Yet the ranks of successful entrepreneurs consist of people like this. Too much experience and knowledge will make a potential business founder hesitate too much. The smart entrepreneur will, however, ensure that more experienced and cautious people are advisers so that some issues may be foreseen better.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The US has less intergenerational mobility than most Western countries

What a waste of human resources! While the correlation between individual and parental earnings is 0.15 in Denmark, 0.19 in Canada, 0.32 in Spain, it is 0.47 in the USA. This means that your position in life is determined by your parent's position more in the USA than othet Western countries. The children of poor people are destined to be poor. There is huge opportunity to increase the well-being of the US by providing more opportunity to its young citizens.