Another Screwed Up System

That's the Iraq Reconstruction Management System. It was started four years ago with the intent that it would be the repository for all reconstruction and non-reconstruction project data from the U.S. implementing agencies. But the system does not have much information about a lot of the projects. Even today the Department of State and AID do not enter much information about the projects under their control. Will we ever get an accurate accounting of the $42+ billion we've already invested in reconstruction?

$24 billion is a lot of money

That's how much Americans spent on the health care of their pets in 2006. That's more than the GDP of some countries. Some of the treatments were acupuncture, aromatherapy, behavior counseling, root canal and chemotherapy. I wonder how the application of these treatments differs between animal and people. Will this kind of spending continue as the economy tanks?

Inside a Subprime Pool

Roger Lowenstein was able to watch Moody's value a subprime pool and gives an eye-shattering view of the process. Rather, I should say a mind boggling view as all rationality and analysis seems to have gone out the window.

The pool consisted of 2,393 mortgages with a face value of $430,000,000. Some issues that should have concerned Moody's:

• 75% of the mortgages carried an adjustable rate
• 43% of the borrowers did not provide written proof of their income
• Almost half had a second mortgage.

The analyst had one day to rate this offering. Given the above three points, that should have been more than enough time to say no. But, hey, Moody's would not have gotten the fee from the investment bank that requested the rating. So, Moody's gave twelve different ratings to the package, from AAA to BA1. Less than two years later - after Moody's had downgraded 5,000 of these pools - this particular pool could boast that 27% of the mortgages were delinquent.

Lowenstein does not think that only the rating agencies are at fault. Securities regulators, such as the SEC, outsourced their regulatory functions to "officially designated rating agencies". But, still it was the ratings agencies that decided to negotiate with their customers, investment banks, as to what the rating should be. It was the rating agencies that rated securities using mathematics rather than common sense. It was the rating agencies who did not understand the dramatic changes in the financial world.

Clearly, the ratings agencies are responsible for a large part of our current situation.

Reality from Iacocca

The guys with whom I grew up and I have very different political views. Usually, they send me right wing propaganda and I reciprocate with a response demonstrating - at least in my own mind - how ridiculous the propaganda is. Today, however, I received the following from one of my friends and was amazed to find that I just about totally agreed with Mr. Iacocca and my friend.

You really should read this and send it to your friends.

Excerpt Where Have All the Leaders Gone? By Lee Iacocca with Catherine Whitney I Had Enough? Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, "Stay the course." Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I'll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out! You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don't need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have. My friends tell me to calm down. They say, "Lee, you're eighty-two years old. Leave the rage to the young people." I'd love to—as soon as I can pry them away from their iPods for five seconds and get them to pay attention. I'm going to speak up because it's my patriotic duty. I think people will listen to me. They say I have a reputation as a straight shooter. So I'll tell you how I see it, and it's not pretty, but at least it's real. I'm hoping to strike a nerve in those young folks who say they don't vote because they don't trust politicians to represent their interests. Hey, America, wake up. These guys work for us. Who Are These Guys, Anyway? Why are we in this mess? How did we end up with this crowd in Washington? Well, we voted for them—or at least some of us did. But I'll tell you what we didn't do. We didn't agree to suspend the Constitution. We didn't agree to stop asking questions or demanding answers. Some of us are sick and tired of people who call free speech treason. Where I come from that's a dictatorship, not a democracy. And don't tell me it's all the fault of right-wing Republicans or liberal Democrats. That's an intellectually lazy argument, and it's part of the reason we're in this stew. We're not just a nation of factions. We're a people. We share common principles and ideals. And we rise and fall together. Where are the voices of leaders who can inspire us to action and make us stand taller? What happened to the strong and resolute party of Lincoln? What happened to the courageous, populist party of FDR and Truman? There was a time in this country when the voices of great leaders lifted us up and made us want to do better. Where have all the leaders gone? The Test of a Leader I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points—not ten (I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses). I call them the "Nine Cs of Leadership." They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. We should look at how the current administration stacks up. Like it or not, this crew is going to be around until January 2009. Maybe we can learn something before we go to the polls in 2008. Then let's be sure we use the leadership test to screen the candidates who say they want to run the country. It's up to us to choose wisely. So, here's my C list: A leader has to show CURIOSITY. He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle. He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place. George W. Bush brags about never reading a newspaper. "I just scan the headlines," he says. Am I hearing this right? He's the President of the United States and he never reads a newspaper? Thomas Jefferson once said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter." Bush disagrees. As long as he gets his daily hour in the gym, with Fox News piped through the sound system, he's ready to go. If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale. If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right? The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care. Before the 2006 election, George Bush made a big point of saying he didn't listen to the polls. Yeah, that's what they all say when the polls stink. But maybe he should have listened, because 70 percent of the people were saying he was on the wrong track. It took a "thumping" on election day to wake him up, but even then you got the feeling he wasn't listening so much as he was calculating how to do a better job of convincing everyone he was right. A leader has to be CREATIVE, go out on a limb, be willing to try something different. You know, think outside the box. George Bush prides himself on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control. God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping. There's a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty. Senator Joe Biden recalled a conversation he had with Bush a few months after our troops marched into Baghdad. Joe was in the Oval Office outlining his concerns to the President—the explosive mix of Shiite and Sunni, the disbanded Iraqi army, the problems securing the oil fields. "The President was serene," Joe recalled. "He told me he was sure that we were on the right course and that all would be well. 'Mr. President,' I finally said, 'how can you be so sure when you don't yet know all the facts?'" Bush then reached over and put a steadying hand on Joe's shoulder. "My instincts," he said. "My instincts." Joe was flabbergasted. He told Bush, "Mr. President, your instincts aren't good enough." Joe Biden sure didn't think the matter was settled. And, as we all know now, it wasn't. Leadership is all about managing change—whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative. You adapt. Maybe Bush was absent the day they covered that at Harvard Business School. A leader has to COMMUNICATE. I'm not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I'm talking about facing reality and telling the truth. Nobody in the current administration seems to know how to talk straight anymore. Instead, they spend most of their time trying to convince us that things are not really as bad as they seem. I don't know if it's denial or dishonesty, but it can start to drive you crazy after a while. Communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it's painful. The war in Iraq has been, among other things, a grand failure of communication. Bush is like the boy who didn't cry wolf when the wolf was at the door. After years of being told that all is well, even as the casualties and chaos mount, we've stopped listening to him. A leader has to be a person of CHARACTER. That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing. Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power." George Bush has a lot of power. What does it say about his character? Bush has shown a willingness to take bold action on the world stage because he has the power, but he shows little regard for the grievous consequences. He has sent our troops (not to mention hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens) to their deaths—for what? To build our oil reserves? To avenge his daddy because Saddam Hussein once tried to have him killed? To show his daddy he's tougher? The motivations behind the war in Iraq are questionable, and the execution of the war has been a disaster. A man of character does not ask a single soldier to die for a failed policy. A leader must have COURAGE. I'm talking about balls. (That even goes for female leaders.) Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage. George Bush comes from a blue-blooded Connecticut family, but he likes to talk like a cowboy. You know, My gun is bigger than your gun. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk. If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes. Bush can't even make a public appearance unless the audience has been handpicked and sanitized. He did a series of so-called town hall meetings last year, in auditoriums packed with his most devoted fans. The questions were all softballs. To be a leader you've got to have CONVICTION—a fire in your belly. You've got to have passion. You've got to really want to get something done. How do you measure fire in the belly? Bush has set the all-time record for number of vacation days taken by a U.S. President—four hundred and counting. He'd rather clear brush on his ranch than immerse himself in the business of governing. He even told an interviewer that the high point of his presidency so far was catching a seven-and-a-half-pound perch in his hand-stocked lake. It's no better on Capitol Hill. Congress was in session only ninety-seven days in 2006. That's eleven days less than the record set in 1948, when President Harry Truman coined the term do-nothing Congress. Most people would expect to be fired if they worked so little and had nothing to show for it. But Congress managed to find the time to vote itself a raise. Now, that's not leadership. A leader should have CHARISMA. I'm not talking about being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you. It's the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust him. That's my definition of charisma. Maybe George Bush is a great guy to hang out with at a barbecue or a ball game. But put him at a global summit where the future of our planet is at stake, and he doesn't look very presidential. Those frat-boy pranks and the kidding around he enjoys so much don't go over that well with world leaders. Just ask German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who received an unwelcome shoulder massage from our President at a G-8 Summit. When he came up behind her and started squeezing, I thought she was going to go right through the roof. A leader has to be COMPETENT. That seems obvious, doesn't it? You've got to know what you're doing. More important than that, you've got to surround yourself with people who know what they're doing. Bush brags about being our first MBA President. Does that make him competent? Well, let's see. Thanks to our first MBA President, we've got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is on life support, and we've run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far) in Iraq. And that's just for starters. A leader has to be a problem solver, and the biggest problems we face as a nation seem to be on the back burner. You can't be a leader if you don't have COMMON SENSE. I call this Charlie Beacham's rule. When I was a young guy just starting out in the car business, one of my first jobs was as Ford's zone manager in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My boss was a guy named Charlie Beacham, who was the East Coast regional manager. Charlie was a big Southerner, with a warm drawl, a huge smile, and a core of steel. Charlie used to tell me, "Remember, Lee, the only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it." George Bush doesn't have common sense. He just has a lot of sound bites. You know—Mr.they'll-welcome-us-as-liberators-no-child-left-behind-heck-of-a-job-Brownie-mission-accomplished Bush. Former President Bill Clinton once said, "I grew up in an alcoholic home. I spent half my childhood trying to get into the reality-based world—and I like it here." I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while. The Biggest C is Crisis Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down. On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. Where was George Bush? He was reading a story about a pet goat to kids in Florida when he heard about the attacks. He kept sitting there for twenty minutes with a baffled look on his face. It's all on tape. You can see it for yourself. Then, instead of taking the quickest route back to Washington and immediately going on the air to reassure the panicked people of this country, he decided it wasn't safe to return to the White House. He basically went into hiding for the day—and he told Vice President Dick Cheney to stay put in his bunker. We were all frozen in front of our TVs, scared out of our wits, waiting for our leaders to tell us that we were going to be okay, and there was nobody home. It took Bush a couple of days to get his bearings and devise the right photo op at Ground Zero. That was George Bush's moment of truth, and he was paralyzed. And what did he do when he'd regained his composure? He led us down the road to Iraq—a road his own father had considered disastrous when he was President. But Bush didn't listen to Daddy. He listened to a higher father. He prides himself on being faith based, not reality based. If that doesn't scare the crap out of you, I don't know what will. A Hell of a Mess So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask: "Where have all the leaders gone?" Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, competence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point. Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened. Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time. Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when "the Big Three" referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen—and more important, what are we going to do about it? Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry. I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bobblehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change? Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope. I believe in America. In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises—the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War, the 1970s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to action for people who, like me, believe in America. It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the horseshit and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had enough. Excerpted from Where Have All the Leaders Gone?. Copyright © 2007 by Lee Iacocca. All rights reserved.

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Iacocca, Lee List Price: $25.00 Hardcover

Our Violent World

I know that there have been a number of shootings on school grounds, be they colleges, high schools and probably even elementary schools. But the idea that students should be allowed to carry concealed weapons boggles my mind. Yet in at least one university there is a group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, that is pushing for this.

It is ironic that the university is Virginia Tech, site of one of the school shootings. Maybe, if I were a student at the school, I might be worried that it may occur again (although the odds against this happening are staggeringly high). But why I would want to be on a college campus where my roommate might carry a gun is beyond me.

In an even more bizarre twist to this episode one of the speakers at an event sponsored by this group was one Eric Thompson, the gun dealer who supplied the weapons used in both the Virgina Tech and Northern Illinois shootings. Talk about sensitivity, understanding and compassion!

Conspiracy Theory?

I'm not one to readily believe in secret conspiracies that control the world. But, an article by Kevin Phillips in The Washington Independent causes me to question my naivete. I had never heard of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets although it's been around for twenty years. Phillips doesn't really know what this group does but he alludes to a number of things related to attempts to stabilize the markets, including the direct buying of securities and other assets by the federal government.

The thing that raised my hackles was the assertion that the Group "has declined to submit to the federal Freedom of Information Act or to testify in detail before Congress" plus the current head of the group is our Treasury Secretary, Mr. Paulson, and one member is Mr. Bernanke.

As fas as I know, Phillips is not a nutter. He seems to be an intelligent, thoughtful Republican. Maybe there is something in what he says.

I hope that there is money for another bottle of champagne

The Navy christened its first littoral combat ship in September 2006. Unfortunately, the launch did not go well as the ship has yet to see service; in fact, it's still in the same spot where the christening took place. This is simply an example of the problems the military has had acquiring new weapons systems.

There have been several problems that have caused the Freedom, the ship referred to above, to stay put for almost two years:

• For some unknown reason other than blind faith, the Navy decided to build this ship by modifying the design of a high-speed commercial ferry.
• No one vetted the assumption that such a ferry could be adapted for a new use and whether, if it could be adapted, the adaption could be done on time and within budget.
• The company selected to build the ship, Lockheed, had never built a ship.
• This was a cost plus contract so that the final price will be more than double the original. Of course, you and I will pony up the difference.
• The Navy changed the rules in medias res.
• Originally, the Navy's oversight of the project was minimal. It later improved but without the benefit of experienced supervisors. Fewer and fewer government employees are trained systems engineers.
• A misread drawing caused a 6 month delay.

Politics and war have a lot in common

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What won't she lie about?

Now it's New Zealand. Most of us do not know who the Prime Minister of New Zealand is, but, if we were running for office and decided to talk about the country, we'd probably find out before speaking. And how many of us would make up a story so stupid as hers about Sir Edmund Hillary?

We're Still #1

That's in terms of the number of people in jail. That's according to this year's study by the International Center for Prison Studies. We have 751 people locked away for every 100,000 people; the world average is 125. Only Russia with 627 is close.

It's only been in the past 30 years that we have turned in such a stellar performance. Our rate in 1975 was 110. Another change is in the number of people in jail for drugs; in 1980 there were about 40,000; today there are - sit down - 500,000. How much does this add to the cost of our war - it's always a war - on drugs.

One reason why we have so many people in jail is the length of our sentences, which are two - three times as long as those of other countries.

Advocates of keeping these people in jail point to a lower crime rate. But Canada and the US have had about the same crime rate for years even though the rate of imprisonment in Canada has stayed the same while ours has skyrocketed.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

Who do you believe? Jimmy Carter or Condoleezza Rice? Carter says no one told him not to talk with Hamas. Rice claims an Assistant Secretary of State did tell Carter not to go to the Middle East and not to meet with Hamas.

Who do you believe? Patty Murray or the Veterans Administration? Senator Murray claims that the 12,000 troops attempt suicide each year. the VA says 800. This case is a lot clearer than the Carter-Rice one as Murray has a VA e-mail supporting her assertion.

Scientific Freedom?

I've written previously about the poor job the EPA seems to be doing in fulfilling its job of protecting us from nasty things that might be let loose in the environment. There have been stories in the press about this administration's attempts to influence EPA decisions. Well, the Union of Concerned Scientists has released a study that supports these stories.

A year ago the Union distributed a survey to 5,500 EPA scientists; the response rate was 29% which I'd say is quite good. Some of the results:

• 60% of the scientists had at least one instance of political interference in the past five years
• 43% said that interference has been worse in the past five years than in the previous five years
• 49% felt that there were cases where political appointees involved themselves in scientific decisions
• 42% claimed to know of cases where commercial interests were able to get the EPA to reverse or withdraw scientific conclusions

There are a number of interesting case studies throughout the report which demonstrate the failure of those in charge of the EPA to exercise their duties.

What would Professor Sherburne say?

Sherburne was the Accounting Professor who explained that world to me in the last century. I think that he would be astounded to learn that the accounting profession has sanctioned a practice whereby management has the ability to not only assign its own value to a security but can also keep an increase or decrease in a security's value off the income statement and have such activity affect only the balance sheet.

Such a technique enabled Citibank to hide $2.3 billion in writedowns from appearing on its income statement; Merrill Lynch hid $3.1 billion. The companies in the S&P 500 have hid $80 billion in such losses on their balance sheets through this technique.

The game involves classifying a security as being available for sale, rather than being owned for the long haul or being actively traded. Activity surrounding such securities - those available for sale - do not have to be recorded on the income statement, it can go directly to the balance sheet as "other comprehensive income".

No wonder why the financial world is in trouble.

Does it violate your privacy?

Does software that examines your contact list almost no matter where it is or how many you have violate your privacy when it goes on to check how often you mail certain people, whether you have appointments with or telephone certain people? Apparently, some companies, many of which are law firms, don't think it does as they use such software to try to get business with the 'certain people' you know.

While the programs do not scan the content of e-mails - or so they say - it does seem that they are invading one's privacy.

It's coming

This was taken at the Arnold Arboretum in May 2006.

Literary Digest Poll Redux?

A friend theorizes that the current polling is missing those with cell phones and without land lines, i.e., many young people. If he is right, will we have a repeat of the 1936 poll by the Literary Digest Magazine which, based on a survey of owners of cars and telephones, predicted that Landon would defeat Roosevelt?

Hillary's Demise?

Tomorrow I may regret writing this, but I have the sense that Hillary will not win Pennsylvania. Definitely she will not win it by as big a margin as she started with.

I think that there is a feeling about that Hillary is from the past and the country is in such bad shape we can't afford to stay as we are. Just about all of her slams against Obama seem to be having little effect with real people as opposed to the pundits. Obama is still raising more money. Superdelegates are moving in his direction.

There was an interesting article by McClatchy Newspapers about the number of Pennsylvania voters that switched parties. 178,000 have done so and 92% have gone from Republican to Democrat. That's about 4% of the total voters and these people are very likely to vote. I don't think they will be voting for Hillary.

Dollars Up, Threats Down

Lawrence Korb has argued that the money we spent on missile defense is largely wasted. Now Joseph Cirincione has some numbers supporting that position. The number of long-range missiles held by Russia and China has decreased 71% in the past twenty years. The number of medium-range missiles has gone down even more, 80%. And short-range missiles are largely Scud types, which were never very reliable in their heyday.

Enough Depressing News

The View from the East

Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, thinks the West has a major problem: it cannot see that the world has entered a new era. In his view, as expressed in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, we assume that we are the source of the answers to the problems of the world when, in fact, we are a major source of the problems. I think he’s correct in his assessment that we have failed to acknowledge that we are living in a changed world, a world in which the West has some very serious competition.

Mahbubani riffs on four areas where the West, in his judgment, has screwed up: the Middle East, nuclear non-proliferation, trade liberalization and global warming.

Of course, Iraq is at the top of the list when he speaks of the Middle East. But he discusses it in terms of its impact on international law. Since we did not have UN sanction to attack Iraq, how can we go ballistic over the failure to follow UN principles by Iran and North Korea? No mention of the Middle East can exclude Israel; here Mahbubani lists a few of the opportunities we, the U.S., have failed to pursue.

Israel also figures in the discussion of the nuclear non-proliferation treaties. Again, in applying the idea that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, Mahbubani asks why Israel has not been sanctioned for having nuclear weapons. And why have we looked the other way with regards to India and Pakistan going nuclear? One aspect of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty called for the U.S. and Russia to substantially reduce their nuclear arsenal. How much has taken place?

Global free trade has been fine when the West was the leader and had little competition. Now Mahbubani feels that the West is getting chicken as the competition has increased significantly and cites the difficulties surrounding the Doha Round as indicative of the problems.

As for global warming, Mahbubani is clear. The West is responsible for most of the greenhouse gases emitted over the past centuries. It is still the biggest emitter. It should pay most of the cost of combating global warming.

Admittedly, some of Mahbubani’s claims are tenuous. But his fundamental insight that we need to look in the mirror is critical to our future success and that of the world.