Former Chairman of Intel, Craig Barrett, Talks Economy to Thomas Friedman. (June 29, 2009)

Craig Barrett, former Intel CEO

The other day The New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, had a chat with Craig Barrett, former CEO of Intel, about the US economy. What Mr Barrett had to say has sufficient overall relevance that it just might be worth our political elite to consider an "Australianisation".

• Any American kid who wants to get a driver’s license has to finish high school. No diploma — no license;

• require every state to benchmark their education standards against the best in the world, not the state next door;

• double the budgets for basic scientific research at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology;

• lower the corporate tax rate;

• revamp Sarbanes-Oxley* so that it is easier to start a small business;

• find a cost-effective way to extend health care to every American.

Mr Friedman sums up matters with: "[T]he country that uses [the economic] crisis to make its population smarter and more innovative — and endows its people with more tools and basic research to invent new goods and services — is the one that will not just survive but thrive down the road."

It's probable that Kevin Rudd and his cabinet would argue that they are doing all that can be done given political and commercial realities, but is that really the case, especially considering the remarkably feeble display of the Liberal-National Coalition.

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*Sarbanes-Oxley is a United States federal law enacted on July 30, 2002, as a reaction to a number of major corporate and accounting scandals including those affecting Enron, Tyco International, Adelphia, Peregrine Systems and WorldCom (From Wikipedia).