First seen at Huffington Post

I had a bad dream that won’t go away.

I had this realization that the United States may be essentially “screwed” (not by others, but by itself) as globalization, both socially and economically, becomes more of a reality.

In the dream I looked at the United States through the eyes of the rest of the world and this is what I saw and concluded:

1. “You don’t have a work ethic among your youth or much of your young adults or even middle age adults. By this we mean that unless you are incentivized by a near term material gain or something that adds to your personal status or stature, you don’t try. And also, unless you see that what you are doing will lead to that personal, self-serving goal, you stop trying.”
2. “You act entitled instead of earning what you deserve. That means that you believe that what you want should automatically come to you. You confuse a privilege (which you need to earn) with a right, that is given to you.”
3. “You resist thinking and planning unless it gets you an immediate reward. You are not intellectually curious. You fight learning and instead are focused on having.”
4. “We no longer need your services (which we are quickly becoming skilled at…including creativity which you think is yours alone) nor your products (as ours are increasingly becoming better in quality and reliability).”
5. “What we do need, but increasingly less now than before, is your money to buy our services and products, which you will keep paying us as our services and products increase in quality and are less expensive because we are not weighed down by all your excessive labor and other costs.”
6. “And we are certainly quite happy for you to use your resources both in money and in manpower to go chasing after terrorism in the world. And since we know you will go it alone, we are perfectly happy to let you do that until you can no longer afford it (which has already occurred).”
7. “We are not against you, but if you steadfastly refuse to wake up and do a reality check to see that you are part of the global community and no longer ‘King of the Hill,’ the world will pass you by.”

There was much more in the dream which I thankfully can’t recall, but I think that’s enough to keep me awake for many nights to come.

Please tell me I am wrong.

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A wired world does not a flat world make 

The world is becoming increasingly wired. More and more remote regions of the world are getting online or at least gaining access to a town, local village, van or someone on a Blackberry who is. To add to that younger generations are connecting in a truer way than their parents and grandparents ever did and have the potential to do so with those connections not being mired by outdated prejudices, policies, politics and wars that have are fought fueled by egos rather than what makes sense eco.

What still prevents the world from being flat – with equality of opportunity and the possibility of fair and honest competition– is that the powerful, greedy, entitled, special interested find ways to not compete fairly. Instead they hedge their bets, gain a competitive edge and create barriers to entry through lies, linguistic gymnastics, innuendo, manipulation and even more unseemly practices.

Chief Justice Louis Brandeis said that “sunlight is the greatest disinfectant.” Until utter transparency becomes not just the law of all lands, but the values that all peoples practice in their daily behavior, the world will continue to be under the sway of the entitled, the unworthy and the nefarious.

I hope for all our sake the disinfection happens sooner than later, because if you haven’t noticed Mother Nature has been firing warning salvos to mankind that she can’t hold on forever.

Other Resources:

• The Great Manager’s Key: The Guide to Better Decisions February 24 webinar with Dan Ariely. Dan is on of the top thinkers and researchers in the area of behavioral economics and in his landmark book Predictably Irrational. In this webinar hosted by Dr. Mark Goulston, you’ll discover just how much your rational decisions are anything but that. When finally checking out use Coupon Code: goulston50 to receive $50 off the regular fee of $349.