Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution, and is threatening to hollow out America's middle class. _______________________________________
Millions of Americans are preoccupied with the outsourcing of American jobs and the threat of global economic competition. From boardrooms to classrooms to kitchen tables and water coolers, globalization has become a hot topic of discussion and debate everywhere --including a best-selling book by a famous journalist. However, Thomas Friedman's runaway bestseller, The World is Flat, is dangerous. Friedman makes "arguments by assertion," assertions based not on documented facts, but on stories from friends and elite CEOs he visits --not even one footnote reference. Yet his book influences business and government leaders around the globe. By what it leaves out, it does nothing more than misinform the American people and our leaders.
Aronica and Ramdoo show that the world isn't flat; it's tilted in favor of unfettered global corporations that exploit cheap labor in China, India and beyond. This concise monograph brings clarity to many of Friedman's misconceptions, and explores nine key issues that Friedman largely ignores, including the hollowing out of America's debt-ridden middle class. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization, the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz.
Refreshingly, you can now gain new insights into globalization without weeding through Friedman's almost 600 pages of ill-informed, grandiloquent prose and bafflegab.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
With enemies like this, who needs friends?:
Thomas Friedman is a poor excuse for a 21st century sage. Aronica and Ramdoo correctly point to his poor method, overly glib and too-self-satisfied anecdotes and annoying neologisms... and then they proceed to commit so many of the very same crimes against reason and serious research in their own "contribution" to our field of political economy. Knowing, as I do, so many truly gifted scholars who will reach and influence fewer in their entire careers than will Friedman will in any given week through... more info
Read Collapse by Jared Diamond instead:
I really wanted to like this book since my friends are so critical of Thomas Friedman's politically incorrect views, but I enjoyed the World is Flat a heck of a lot more than this book. It was nit picky and whiny. It's two redeeming features were the description of farmers in India and their inability to cope with changes brought on by multi-nationals' actions in the field of agriculture and the list of sources at the end of the book. So what if Thomas Friedman golfs and speaks to CEOs! I don't, so hearing... more info
What do economists think?:
We've used this book in my globalization course, and it certainly sparked the discussion on this crucial subject. Don't read Friedman without also reading this book.
A Perspective from India:
Thomas Friedman's book was triggered by the CEO of an Indian software
company in Bangalore who said the playing field was being leveled. Then,
as only a celebrity pundit can do, Friedman spun a sound bite, "The World
is Flat," and garnished story after story from his elite contacts,
while avoiding contact with the likes of Dr. Vandana Shiva, Director
of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology & Ecology and others
who have a different perspective on... more info
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