book review: The World Is Flat
Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist, has written a fascinating book. He argues that the dotcom bust of the 90s was not really a bust. Instead, hundreds of miles of fiber-optic cable was laid. when the companies that laid the cable went belly up then someone else could come in and by the cable for pennies on the dollar. This brought the price of the Internet down substantially. With cheap Internet access (high speed), it now became feasible to outsource certain jobs to India, China and the Philippines.
I like this book. It is very insightful. But, I must be honest, Mr. Friedman is a little verbose. Although one example of his point may convince you, Mr. Friedman feels obligated to give you 2, 3 and sometimes 4 examples in order to drive his point home.
No, the world is not flat but high-speed Internet access is helping to level the playing field. The book breezes over the poverty problem that is not fixed by the “new” economy. This is a huge problem with this book. All ‘n all it is a good … long read.
