1. Y376 International Political Economy
March 19, 2012

2. Thomas Friedman
 New York Times since 1981
 Three-time Pulitzer Prize winner
 1984-88 Israel Bureau Chief
 Major Books:
 From Beirut to Lebanon (1989)
 The Lexus and the Olive Tree (1998)
 The World is Flat (2005)
 Hot, Flat, and Crowded (2008)

3. Chimerica
 Niall Ferguson idea
 Friedman: “… We in America built more and
more stores, to sell more and more stuff, made
in more and more Chinese factories, powered by
more and more coal, and all those sales
produced more dollars, which China used to buy
more and more U.S. Treasury Bills, which
allowed the Federal Reserve to extend more and
more easy credit to more and more banks,
consumers and businesses…” (p. 4)

4. Iceland’s Banks and Melting Ice
 In 2003, three biggest banks in Iceland
had assets of $140 billion, bigger than
Icelandic GDP
 2003-7: growth of banking fueled big jump
in incomes, real estate and stock prices
 October 2008 collapse left Icelandic
citizens holding the bag
Video

5. Collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf
 Wilkins Ice Shelf in the Antarctic crumbled
in January 2009
 Scientist blamed global warming for the
collapse of this and nine other ice shelves
in Antarctica
video

6. What Happened? (Friedman’s
explanation)
 The trend to deregulation (especially under
Reagan)
 End of the Cold War
 9/11
 “And when the bugle sounded we heard the call:
‘Go shopping.’” ( p. 35)
 “…the biggest danger America faces today is
not so much that it will suddenly nosedive…it will
undergo a gradual but very real erosion of its
strengths and assets as a country…” (p. 41)