Open Your Doors Wider

Fed-up with all the talks about multi-billion dollar stimulus plans from various countries? You are not the only one.

I am not an economist but because I read more than the Average Joe on what's going on with the economy, I feel a bit more frustrated than the Average Joe. The consensus is that nobody really knows what needs to be done. Well, can't say I am surprised. If they had known how complex and interwoven things are, they would not have got all of us into this fine mess in the first place.

So now I refuse to read beyond the headlines when they try to impress us with the size of the stimulus package. By now, I am numbed by the magnitude of the bailout money.

But an article by the award-winning author of The World Is Flat and The Lexus And The Olive Tree, Thomas L. Friedman, caught my eye. Entitled Open-door Bailout, it throws up something different from the common mantra of Spend, Spend, Spend.

Two main points he made to the US government:

1 Leverage on immigration. Hire the best brains in the world, instead of shutting them out.

2 Tap the vast entrepreneurial energy that is the trademark of the US (think Microsoft, Google, Intel) by starting a government-funded venture capital bank.

He writes better than me, so I will leave you to read the actual article. I know it's alway easier said than done but at least, somebody is thinking out of the box.