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7 lessons for America from around the world July 5 th , 2011

Editor's Kishore Mahbubani is the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the NationalUniversity of Singapore. He is also the author of The New Asian emis!here" the #rresistible$hift of %lobal &ower to the 'ast . He was recently on %&$ .By Kishore Mahbubani - Special to CNN

Lesson 1: America must learn from the world

The first lesson that America can learn is that it has lessons to learn from the rest of the world The !reat parado"here is that the ma#or American $%y &ea!ue uni%ersities ha%e produced thou!htful and well-educated elites incountries all around the world who belie%e that they ha%e to study the world $ronically in America today i!noranceabout the world is considered a %irtue

Many American con!ressman and con!resswomen consider it a bad!e of honour not to ha%e a passport This maye"plain the thou!htless debate that the ( S Con!ress is ha%in! about how to fi" the ( S economy

The real issues are not about curbin! ( S e"penses or raisin! ta"es The real issue is whether the Americaneconomy can adapt and become truly competiti%e in a much more competiti%e !lobal en%ironment $!norance aboutthe world is a ma#or liability here

&esson )* Adapt to !lobali+ation

The second lesson that America can learn from the world is that many other countries are adaptin! more intelli!entlyand successfully to the processes of !lobalisation that America created $ndeed for se%eral decades Americanpundits and policyma,ers were the leadin! preachers of the %irtues of !lobali+ation They constantly called on othereconomies to open up and #oin the !lobal economy

Many did so includin! China and $ndia a%in! promoted !lobalisation so well American leaders for!ot to as,themsel%es an ob%ious .uestion* would the American economy also ha%e to adapt and reform itself in the face ofacceleratin! !lobalisation/ The failure to address this .uestion may e"plain why America now faces the challen!e ofpersistent unemployment

Lesson 3: Government is necessary

The third lesson that America can learn from the world is that the 0in%isible hand1 of free mar,ets does not wor, wellon its own $t wor,s better in unison with the 0%isible hand1 of !ood !o%ernance

This is the simplest e"planation of why the Chinese and 2erman economies ha%e emer!ed as the two leadin!e"porters of the world Their !o%ernments encoura!ed both their companies and wor,ers to adapt to the newcompetition and put pro!rammes in place to help them American policyma,ers continue to ha%e blind faith in the0in%isible hand1(ead" Kishore Mahbubani)s !iece, *a+e u!, America -ou)re fallin. behind/In the lan of the two!han e " the one!han e policy of the U.S. gives it a severe co#petitiveisa vantage.

Lesson 4: Seize new economic opportunities

The fourth lesson that America can learn is to identify the obstacles within America that pre%ent it from ta,in!ad%anta!e of new economic opportunities

2lobal tourism is e"plodin! 3ithin a decade there could be 455 million Chinese tourists tra%ellin! around the world Already they are becomin! the bi!!est shoppers in &ondon and 6aris But American %isa and immi!rationprocedures discoura!e tra%el to the ( S

$n an inno%ati%e mo%e America has put in place a !lobal 0Trusted Tra%eller 6ro!ram1 3hy not use Americansophistication in software to rapidly e"pand this pro!ram to co%er all countries in the world/ And why does the ( Snot #oin the well-established A6EC Business Card 6ro!ram/

Another blac, hole America has du! for itself is its absolute refusal to allow 0transit1 passen!ers to pass throu!h theirairports without !oin! throu!h painful American immi!ration procedures 3hy not study the benefits that eathrowand 7ran,furt Chan!i and on! Kon! !et from their boomin! transit traffic/

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/05/7-lessons-for-america-from-around-the-world/http://www.mahbubani.net/http://www.amazon.com/New-Asian-Hemisphere-Irresistible-Global/dp/1586484664http://www.amazon.com/New-Asian-Hemisphere-Irresistible-Global/dp/1586484664http://www.amazon.com/New-Asian-Hemisphere-Irresistible-Global/dp/1586484664http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/15/this-week-on-gps-world-views-of-america-condoleezza-rice-and-googles-executive-chairman/http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/25/wake-up-america-you%E2%80%99re-falling-behind/http://www.mahbubani.net/http://www.amazon.com/New-Asian-Hemisphere-Irresistible-Global/dp/1586484664http://www.amazon.com/New-Asian-Hemisphere-Irresistible-Global/dp/1586484664http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/15/this-week-on-gps-world-views-of-america-condoleezza-rice-and-googles-executive-chairman/http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/25/wake-up-america-you%E2%80%99re-falling-behind/http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/05/7-lessons-for-america-from-around-the-world/

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Lesson 5: Encoura e !"S" companies to create #o$s for Americans overseas

The fifth lesson that America can learn is to ta,e ad%anta!e of its !lobally competiti%e companies - from Co,e to6epsi and 2E to Caterpillar - to create #obs for Americans all around the world Many countries ha%e decided that thebest way to encoura!e their entrepreneurs to !o abroad is to a%oid ta"in! them on o%erseas earnin!s

America8s !lobal ta"ation pro!ram discoura!es American companies from hirin! Americans o%erseas and

encoura!es hirin! local nationals instead

Thousands of Americans could be immediately employed o%erseas if America were to tame its !lobal ta"ationpro!ram and encoura!e American companies to employ Americans o%erseas Alternati%ely a simple moderate le%yon o%erseas earnin!s could also encoura!e Americans employed o%erseas

Lesson %: &etrain !"S" wor'ers

The si"th lesson that America can learn from the world is the importance of retrainin! its wor,ers

$n the 49:5s and 49;5s the community colle!es flourished and deli%ered a competiti%e wor, force for AmericaToday many ha%e ossified Their curriculum pales in comparison with the 2erman and Sin!aporean %ocationalinstitutes which ha%e adapted to the demands of new industries

$ndeed somethin! has !one drastically wron! with the American educational system as a whole as indicated byits $A scores 3hy not send American teachers to %isit schools in Sin!apore Seoul elsin,i and on! Kon!/

&esson