Module # 6 (WSU FALL 2014)

Free Trade is basically a policy where a government does not restrict imports and exports, where we trade freely amongst a global community.  According to Friedman, by the way of a man named David Ricardo says that “If each nation specializes in the production of goods in which it has a comparative cost advantage and then trades with other nations for the goods in which they specialize, there will be an overall gain in trade, and overall income levels should rise in each trading country.”   Friedman did not want to see Americans lose their jobs to foreign competition etc…His bottom line was that he believed that even as the world gets flat, America should continue to do free trade as we always have, instead of erecting walls and barriers.  He also believed that by bringing more countries into the Global free trade system, that it would increase demands for goods, spur innovations, and create jobs across the globe.  I can see his point, because I believe that doing free trade as we always have, creates better global relationships, and can create jobs within the United States. Utilizing a protective type trade would look bad to other countries, and ultimately lead to a bad reputation and I think that would create a bad global view of the U.S.

The New Middlers, are those that are collaborators in sales, marketing, maintenance and management.  Those same people used to be considered untouchable.  Meaning they are so specialized that they cannot be duplicated.  Friedman breaks this down into 3 categories.  The first category are the specialized people that perform functions in ways that can never be outsourced, automated or made tradeable.  He uses people like Michael Jordan as an example.  The second type are people that are localized, meaning that there are local people with local knowledge, working in a local specialized market, or locale.   The third category we call “old middle”, meaning the tradable ones that were once thought to be untradeable.  Friedman believes that our ability to keep global integration advancing, will depend on workers feeling that globalization and free trade is a positive effect on their lives. 

            The simple formula is: CQ (Curiosity quotient)+ PQ (Passion Quotient) > IQ (Intelligence Quotient.  Give him a kid with passion and a curiosity to learn, and he will take that over a kid with a high IQ any day of the week.  People that can self educate and self motivate are mor important in todays world than some one with a high IQ.  I have always been told that employer’s would rather hire some one with passion and experience over a 4.0 student fresh out of college.  These kind of kids and people create and invent new technologies, because the have a passion for doing it, and a curiosity to discover.  You can be the smartest person in the world, and never invent anything.  I think that technology companies really look for more creative, self motivated people to join their companies, as the benefit far outweighs the risks involved.  Hiring someone just for IQ, you will never know what they are capable of achieving.