This Guy is a Doofus

It is bad enough I had to stomach an Op-Ed piece by Larry Summers, but to read an even more ridiculous one by Thomas Friedman the other day almost sent me over the edge.

Not only is Friedman a glib hack, but he has absolutely no understanding of math or basic logic. “In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to...Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. Average is over.”

By definition, not everyone can be above average, even if we all step up our game. Look around you - close to half the people you see will be below average. This isn’t Lake Wobegon.  So only an elite, above average group will be able to have a decent, middle class standard of living? Will everyone who is average and below have to fight for scraps?

I think what most disturbed me about this article is its gleeful tone. Especially when Friedman discussed the the Chinese factory that manufactures the iPhones, “What the iPad won’t do in an above average way a Chinese worker will.” As if living in a factory dorm, working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for $17 per day in wages, and being roused in the middle of the night to start a 12 hour shift at the whim of your foreman, is something to be lauded. There’s this thing called the 13th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Maybe you’ve heard of it, Tom?

And then he breathlessly discusses a newly developed app that will allow you to order and pay for your restaurant food electronically, without having to deal with a waiter or waitress! (I guess the robot will carry the food from the kitchen to your table?) So this is what the geniuses of MIT are working on? No wonder we’re doomed.

Friedman himself is a pretty good example of “average” when it comes to intellect and writing ability. I can’t wait until the “above average” world of the future leaves him in the dust. I am not the only one who feels this way. See: http://www.fbesp.org/synapse/?p=20

Time to re-read Player Piano, by Kurt Vonnegut, so we can prepare ourselves for what the future has in store. (Actually, it’s always a good time to read Vonnegut.)  After that, we should familiarize ourselves with the world of Charles Dickens, because surely that is where this trend is taking us.