That Used to Be Us: How American Fell Behind in the World it Invented and How We Can Come Back, by Thomas L. Friedman and Michael
Mandelbaum. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. 380 pp., $28.00.
Thomas Friedman has been a pivotal author for me. I
distinctly remember reading “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” in a cabin on a boy
scout winter campout as a teenager, reading “The World is Flat” as part of an
international relations course, and listening to excerpts from “Hot, Flat and
Crowded with my wife during a cross country drive. For over twelve years,
Friedman has been a key spokesman promoting globalization and leading the
national discourse on how a changed world will directly benefit those who
prepare appropriately.
For a briefer period of time, Professor Michael Mandelbaum
has had an important impact on me too. A professor at my graduate school, I
thoroughly enjoyed his lectures and his prior academic writings. He—along with
the other professors at SAIS—have a unique ability to clearly show how economic
systems interact, leading to the political economy present in the world today.
With this as background, I was clearly anticipating a
phenomenal book from these authors examining U.S. domestic politics from a foreign
policy perspective. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to my (perhaps
overly) high standards. The authors’ styles do not mix well, leading to awkward
transitions and an over-reliance on broad generalizations. And perhaps I am
tiring a bit of the anecdote-as-proof model that journalists such as Friedman
have perfected. In terms of economics and globalization, I fear we simply do not
have the necessary historical perspective to fully appreciate the current era
we live in. Friedman and Mandelbaum argue strongly that America is in a state
of significant decline and needs a rebirth. While the prognosis may be
accurate, I question both the cited symptoms and the recommended cure.
Building off common themes from Friedman’s prior books
(Friedman has been nothing if not consistent in his driving thesis during the
past decade), “That Used to Be Us” cites four great challenges facing America:
adapting to globalization, adapting to the IT revolution, coping with the
national debt, and managing rising energy costs and climate change. To meet
these challenges, the authors call upon leaders and Americans to revitalize the
country’s winning formula by reforming education, infrastructure, immigration,
R&D, and regulation policies.
Friedman and Mandelbaum are essentially arguing that the
U.S. suffers from undercapitalization and must boost investment to maintain its
competitive advantage. I certainly cannot argue with that line of reasoning,
but I wonder if there isn’t more to the story. The U.S. problems did not occur
in a vacuum and America's ability to overconsume requires the willing cooperation of
the rest of the world. The world’s current accounts must balance in the end. So
why the global savings glut? What has been the long-term impact of the ending
of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s? And how do we explain the Great
Recession or understand its lasting impact on geopolitical politics? While some
of this story emerges (especially in a few chapters clearly written by Mandelbaum),
I feel this book falls short of its intended mark. In this respect, I cannot
help but compare Martin Wolf’s excellent analysis written in 2009
which for me remains one of the best summaries of the global economic system.
In essence then, I am disappointed that these two great
foreign policy thinkers somehow forgot about foreign policy (especially
international monetary policy) when they decided to write a book about domestic
issues. I tire of the constant focus on China by Friedman and countless other
authors, and I think the China-U.S. nexus is inherently more complex than it is
often portrayed. The discussions on climate change and the national debt feel
patronizing too, myopically focused on current events. The overall structure of
the book does not allow the reader take a step back and look at the larger
picture either. Maybe the solutions are as simple as Friedman and Mandelbaum
say and we are currently living in a once-in-a-lifetime moment, but I fear there is more to the story. (A recent Slate article dovetails nicely on this point I think.)
Like I said, perhaps I expected too much. In its defense,
the book is a pleasant and quick read, full of fascinating stories and
vignettes stemming mostly from Friedman’s journeys throughout the world. I love
stopping and thinking about how the world continues to evolve, and I share the
author’s childlike fascination with the transformative power of globalization.
But in the end, I wanted something more substantive. Such a work would take more
time than Friedman’s standard leave of absence from the New York Times every three years. But I sincerely hope that at some
point in the future, he is willing to invest the effort.
