"Whether I am re-elected or not is not my problem. My problem is to save the country."

Like everyone, I have an eye on Greece right now. If the media is to be believed, if Greece defaults there will be a domino effect that will ripple around the world, starting with the impact to European banks that hold a huge amount of Greek debt, and spreading to interconnected markets, including the US.

Thus, I was encouraged, reading the Greek Prime Ministers speech to find the quote which is the title of this post. Here is a guy who is willing to do the right thing, even if it is unpopular.

The US is "Greece in waiting." In USA Inc., you will find lots of data on the dangers facing the US, including this note: "Less than 15 years from now... USA Inc....would have nothing left over to spend on defense, education, infrastructure, and R&D, which today account for only 32% of USA Inc. spending, down from 69% forty years ago. This critical juncture is getting ever closer." In just 15 years, at current course and speed, entitlement programs (pensions, etc.) plus servicing the debt, will be the only things the US Government can afford. And that is if interest rates stay low; if interest rates rise, that 15 years could be a lot shorter.

What we need, then, is a President (and a party) who is willing to do the right things for the country knowing that their term will be short. We need to restructure our debt, dramatically reduce the entitlement programs, and reform health care (by modeling a system that works). This is another spot where the two party system falls short. If the US had a dynamic, evolving, changing party structure, it is more likely that a party will take chances...and do the right thing. Because of the polarized nature of a two party war, it is unlikely that either party will be willing to do the right thing.

Comments

The Fourth R.

Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and algoRithms. My wife and I were just brainstorming about this: how coding should be the next "basic" skill. Of course, someone was ahead of us and posted this . It is awesome to see Mozilla Hackasaurus referenced in this article. It is a small world. In the early days of the printing press, scholars wrote the books; the press was simply used for production (see this article ). As time went on, "average" people became familiar with the medium, and used it for their own messages. We are at just that point with the Web. Software Engineers write the code, and the Web distributes it. Software Engineers are the algoRithm scholars of today. They won't be for long. Soon algoRithms will be taught starting in elementary school, along with the other three R's.

Acsoi - Land Grab Economics

"Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income" ( Acsoi ), is a measure of what a companies profits would be if they were not spending like crazy to acquire a space: in GroupOn's case, this would be retailers. To me, using Acsoi as a measure is really an admission that a company has no staying power beyond brand awareness. So, they need to grab and own as much mindshare as they can, as quickly as they can, to increase the barrier to entry for competitors. Without intellectual property to help protect them, and with the cost of switching (for a user) being effectively zero, building a global brand, and relying on brand stickiness, is the best way forward. Companies like Amazon that have been effective at this have also built in other "sticky" factors over time: recommendation engines, one-click purchasing, etc. This increases the cost for the user to switch, and allows the company to stop pouring money into marketing and acquisition costs. You also buil...

Pwned by CarShark

Here is your guide to "sharking" a car. With Carshark, and a little creativity, you to can make your drive to work more interesting. In the paper they show you how to hook things up so that you can control a car through WiFi. You are sitting at a red light, and want to have a little fun. How about sending 07 AE 15 A2; this controls the horn frequency? Drive-by ringtones. Could be a $1B business.

Todd G. Simpson

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