Module 6

The idea of free trade was a theory brought forth by David Ricardo, an English economist. In my opinion this Idea explains that if each nation specializes in the production of their own goods and trades these goods with each other then, theoretically, the gain in trade and overall income should rise. This theory only works if the nations do not interfere in over regulating the imports and exports to other countries.  

I feel as though free trade would be beneficial to our global economy. I realize that many Americans have lost their jobs due to offshoring and outsourcing but overtime we can adapt to the changes of the global economy and be able to compete with other nations. The idea of a global economy is a lot like the second step of triple convergence discussed in my previous module. This new found Idea of free trade could become a useless and very unbeneficial theory if all the countries decide to open up to free trade while making no adaptions whatsoever to take advantage of the benefits and functions of a global economy with limited regulations.

Like any company going through a new upgrade in their system, company time is spent trying to learn this new system instead of making new business with other customers and bringing in profit. This time can feel pointless and frustrating in the beginning when typical functions in the company now take twice the amount of time because of unfamiliarity. But once the employees become familiarized with the upgrade, the system will become streamlined usually resulting in an increase of profit and a decrease in company time wasted. In my opinion we, being Americans, are in the learning stage of this new global upgrade and as we continue to adapt to these changes by an improvement in education we will see an increase in trade and overall income.

The term “new middler” refers to Friedman’s theory which includes eight characteristic traits that will help the common people become a successful middle class individual in our new technological world. He explains that those jobs that we once thought were untouchable are now disposable and if we don’t adapt to these changes in time we can become disposable too.

 The first is Great Collaborators and Orchestrators: These are those who have a great ability to communicate with others and orchestrate a team that works successfully around the clock. Second is The Great Synthesizers: these are the innovators that can bring together the global flatteners in new and creative ways. Third, The Great Explainers: those with the ability to explain complex concepts in a way that others can understand.  Fourth, The Great Leveragers: the people who can brainstorm ways of competing with the increasing size of laborers. Fifth, The Great Adapters: individuals who can roll with the punches of the changing economy and job pool, while adapting to the job changes. Sixth, The Green people: Those who are concerned about the environment and devoted in finding ways to create renewable and sustainable products. Seventh, The Math Lovers: These people have a love and have obtained great skills in the math department. The math lovers have the ability to design and control the new and upcoming technologies. Last but not least The Great Localizers: Those who are conscious about creating local jobs in all sizes of business.

When trying to understand Friedman’s equation of CQ + PQ > IQ, one must first understand what each variable stands for. CQ stands for curiosity quotient. PQ refers to the passion quotient. And Finally IQ which as most know is the intelligence quotient. In this equation Friedman is stating that curiosity and passion combined are greater in value then the pure power of intelligence. I couldn’t agree more with this statement. If a person possesses the curiosity and passion to learn everything they can learn this becomes far greater than someone who is able to spew out facts and knowledge. At the same time, I believe that by utilizing ones curiosity and passion to the objective of learning one can raise their IQ. In this competitive world a lot more than just smarts is needed to be successful.