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Gary Shapiro, Mark Cuban'sThe Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream [Hardcover]
America seems to be on a downward slide. Our government spends too much; our economy creates too little; and we aren't preparing our children to compete in a global marketplace. Yet our politicians - Republican and Democrat alike - just don't get it. While once-great cities fall into decay, Washington thrives, living off the hard work and tax dollars of the private sector. It's time for an American comeback -- and it starts with innovation.Throughout its history, America's great innovators have been the drivers of our unsurpassed economic success. American innovation transformed a country of ragtag farmers into the epicenter of the world's technological progress. Innovation creates jobs, markets, and new industries where none existed before. Most importantly, innovation moves us forward as a nation, pushing us to succeed and strive for a better tomorrow. In short, innovation is the American Dream.In The Comeback, Gary Shapiro shows us how to return innovation to its rightful place at the center of America's economic policy. The Comeback is a new blueprint for America's success.
Hardcover
First published December 19, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 30, 2018
It is said that if you can't say something nice, say nothing. okay, then... nothing.
March 23, 2011
I enjoyed this one. However, I think that it may be a little too late to implement some of the ideas presented here. I hope not, as implementing this program, even half of it, could restore American to the land of opportunity and entrepreneurialism.
"it is the fortunate result of our nation's rich and unique stew of individual liberty, constitutional democracy, limited government, free enterprise, social mobility, ethnic diversity, immigrant assimilation, intellectual freedom, property rights, and rule of law." If you have been keeping up with recent current events, you will see that a lot of the things listed above have been being stripped away from us in the US.
The Sarbanes-Oxley law has penalized investments in start-up businesses. That is a definite blow to innovation. The author also thinks that we should allow ANY company to fail! What would have happened if the government bailed out all the horse and buggy companies back in the day????
Students from around the world long to come to the US to study at our universities. However, once they are done, they are sent home, where they start up innovative new companies there, instead of here. He advocates more immigration, as immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to start businesses. A growth economy requires an expanding population.
The fact that we have long ignored our aging infrastructure will make this impossible. "We are becoming India, and it saddens and angers me." Companies can not thrive with intermittent electricity, crumbling roads and polluted water.
"The U.S. is the only country that taxes revenue from abroad-even though it is also taxed by other countries. So corporations respond by keeping billions in cash and not returning it to the United States." "Require every law passed by Congress to be analyzed for its cost-benefit impact on business operations and the nation's economic growth."
"Nuclear energy is safe, carbon-neutral, and cheap, when we get the plants built." This was obviously written before the meltdown in Japan, now we can see that it is not really safe. Also, 90% of US nuclear plants have been built on fault lines... duh???? Clean coal is the way to go, in my humble opinion as all that comes out of coal fired plants smokestacks is carbon dioxide, which the government wants you to think is NOT safe. I take issue with this. If we can get enough green power, clean coal is the next best alternative. However, our current President has publicly stated that he will tax any new coal fired plant into bankruptcy!
Definitely a good read! I hope that we can implement these strategies!
"it is the fortunate result of our nation's rich and unique stew of individual liberty, constitutional democracy, limited government, free enterprise, social mobility, ethnic diversity, immigrant assimilation, intellectual freedom, property rights, and rule of law." If you have been keeping up with recent current events, you will see that a lot of the things listed above have been being stripped away from us in the US.
The Sarbanes-Oxley law has penalized investments in start-up businesses. That is a definite blow to innovation. The author also thinks that we should allow ANY company to fail! What would have happened if the government bailed out all the horse and buggy companies back in the day????
Students from around the world long to come to the US to study at our universities. However, once they are done, they are sent home, where they start up innovative new companies there, instead of here. He advocates more immigration, as immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to start businesses. A growth economy requires an expanding population.
The fact that we have long ignored our aging infrastructure will make this impossible. "We are becoming India, and it saddens and angers me." Companies can not thrive with intermittent electricity, crumbling roads and polluted water.
"The U.S. is the only country that taxes revenue from abroad-even though it is also taxed by other countries. So corporations respond by keeping billions in cash and not returning it to the United States." "Require every law passed by Congress to be analyzed for its cost-benefit impact on business operations and the nation's economic growth."
"Nuclear energy is safe, carbon-neutral, and cheap, when we get the plants built." This was obviously written before the meltdown in Japan, now we can see that it is not really safe. Also, 90% of US nuclear plants have been built on fault lines... duh???? Clean coal is the way to go, in my humble opinion as all that comes out of coal fired plants smokestacks is carbon dioxide, which the government wants you to think is NOT safe. I take issue with this. If we can get enough green power, clean coal is the next best alternative. However, our current President has publicly stated that he will tax any new coal fired plant into bankruptcy!
Definitely a good read! I hope that we can implement these strategies!
January 14, 2012
I bought Mark Cuban's "How To Win At The Sport of Business" and Amazon upsold me on this because Cuban wrote the intro. It promised "how innovation will restore the American Dream", which sounded fantastic. I love the promise of a shinier future, I work in an area that thrives on change and innovation, and I've lived and loved the American Dream. Thank you Amazon one-click Kindle delivery!
Curse you, Amazon one-click Kindle delivery! This book is tedious bloviation from a connected but content-free geezer! Lesson learned: when Amazon dangles nuggets before you, always check whether they're auric or colonic.
This book is like talkback radio. The can see the problem clearly (it's other people), he has a laundry list of solutions which all come from his pre-existing prejudices and beliefs, and he has a statistic or two which supports his analysis of problem and solution. I don't listen to talkback radio because I place a low value on precisely this type of lazy poorly-thought-out-opinionated twaddle.
I have spent a lot of time lately learning about the economic and political world and try to figure out they work, and the more I look the more I find nuance, subtlety, ambiguity, and a lack of a single cause. Don't look for that here, though. "It's complex" is only uttered as a handwave in a general argument construction that goes:
"it's complex but [some ill] is caused by [some head-thumpingly simplistic guilty party] and the politicians should do [some tech-business-benefiting thing]"
I don't mind conversations with single-minded assured-of-their-views people because I can ask questions, challenge their assumptions, dig down into what made their world view. But in a book you live with the assumptions the author makes, the foundation that is taken for granted before the argument in the book is laid down. And this book's foundations are shonky, the arguments weak, the architect irritating. Don't buy this book.
Curse you, Amazon one-click Kindle delivery! This book is tedious bloviation from a connected but content-free geezer! Lesson learned: when Amazon dangles nuggets before you, always check whether they're auric or colonic.
This book is like talkback radio. The can see the problem clearly (it's other people), he has a laundry list of solutions which all come from his pre-existing prejudices and beliefs, and he has a statistic or two which supports his analysis of problem and solution. I don't listen to talkback radio because I place a low value on precisely this type of lazy poorly-thought-out-opinionated twaddle.
I have spent a lot of time lately learning about the economic and political world and try to figure out they work, and the more I look the more I find nuance, subtlety, ambiguity, and a lack of a single cause. Don't look for that here, though. "It's complex" is only uttered as a handwave in a general argument construction that goes:
"it's complex but [some ill] is caused by [some head-thumpingly simplistic guilty party] and the politicians should do [some tech-business-benefiting thing]"
I don't mind conversations with single-minded assured-of-their-views people because I can ask questions, challenge their assumptions, dig down into what made their world view. But in a book you live with the assumptions the author makes, the foundation that is taken for granted before the argument in the book is laid down. And this book's foundations are shonky, the arguments weak, the architect irritating. Don't buy this book.
July 15, 2015
You know that republican friend you have who has an answer to every issue (and non-issue) currently facing the US? Well, this is kind of a list of all those solutions, backed up by stats and studies. But, to make the book a little more neutral, he does hang just enough shit on the republicans to make it fairly objective. The intro by Cuban is the best part of the book. After that, you feel like you're at a dinner party with a terrible guest.
The problem of course is you read some of the studies and just know its bullshit. The number and data just doesn't add up. The fact there is also no conflicting or alternative views presented is also a little telling.
When the facts start lacking credibility, the book gets a little challenging. For example, to illustrate how governments (again, remember its Obama here) poorly invest in bad companies, he uses the example of when the US government loaned a silly electric car company 400 million dollars that was only producing 15 cars a year. Well, that company was Tesla, and presumably this book was released before that company became the crown jewel in the US automative industry, and made a lot of money on wall street for everyone. Tesla has become the very example of innovation, the very subject of this book.
A friend of mine once said to me, be careful looking for answers, because you just might find them. This is a book with all the answers. I just suspect some of them oversimplify, what are in some cases, very complicated problems.
The problem of course is you read some of the studies and just know its bullshit. The number and data just doesn't add up. The fact there is also no conflicting or alternative views presented is also a little telling.
When the facts start lacking credibility, the book gets a little challenging. For example, to illustrate how governments (again, remember its Obama here) poorly invest in bad companies, he uses the example of when the US government loaned a silly electric car company 400 million dollars that was only producing 15 cars a year. Well, that company was Tesla, and presumably this book was released before that company became the crown jewel in the US automative industry, and made a lot of money on wall street for everyone. Tesla has become the very example of innovation, the very subject of this book.
A friend of mine once said to me, be careful looking for answers, because you just might find them. This is a book with all the answers. I just suspect some of them oversimplify, what are in some cases, very complicated problems.
October 21, 2011
I liked this book because it was simple to read, the chapters were short, it was a layman's explanation of how to get the economy working again. The author is the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association and he draws many of his examples from his knowledge of that industry, which is helpful because that's the industry with which most Americans are familiar. We all know something about the advances in the music and movie industries and how we used to get our music/movies and how much that has changed.
What sets this book apart is the author's focus/argument that we need to do everything we can to foster a culture that breeds innovation and why. Just as a contrast, in "The World is Curved" (a much more complex read--by a Democrat) there's a great chapter that addresses the protectionist reaction that occurs in a bad economy and a retreat from globalization. Very indepth, good material. In "The Comeback" there's a chapter on Free Trade that discusses the same subject, with less detail, but in a coffee table, understandable fashion. This book is an easy, thought-provoking read.
What sets this book apart is the author's focus/argument that we need to do everything we can to foster a culture that breeds innovation and why. Just as a contrast, in "The World is Curved" (a much more complex read--by a Democrat) there's a great chapter that addresses the protectionist reaction that occurs in a bad economy and a retreat from globalization. Very indepth, good material. In "The Comeback" there's a chapter on Free Trade that discusses the same subject, with less detail, but in a coffee table, understandable fashion. This book is an easy, thought-provoking read.
August 12, 2011
This book is a vanity project Gary Shapiro, without much pretense of really being an interesting book.
Somehow he lives in Detroit, yet has "commuted" to Washington DC for many years to run the Consumer Electronics Association.
The book is filled with the legislative agenda of that trade association. Shapiro makes all the familiar arguments about why free trade will be great for Americans, etc.
And any sentence with the word "innovation" in it sounds good, even if the guy writing it has nothing new to say.
Somehow he lives in Detroit, yet has "commuted" to Washington DC for many years to run the Consumer Electronics Association.
The book is filled with the legislative agenda of that trade association. Shapiro makes all the familiar arguments about why free trade will be great for Americans, etc.
And any sentence with the word "innovation" in it sounds good, even if the guy writing it has nothing new to say.
December 5, 2011
As an entrepreneur I agree with about half of the ideas presented to encourage innovation. The other half read like corporate favoritism. I understand Shapiro's point that the government cannot create jobs by overly hampering private enterprise, but many of the concessions would only favor large corporations and stockholders. Yes, somebody has to take the risk to get a profitable start-up going, but he focuses less on small business and its contribution to the economy than making the leap from small business to burgeoning large business.
November 30, 2012
This book is a relatively quick read and contains some interesting ideas. If you can get past some of the blatant bias in the book you will see there are really some well-balanced thoughts here with regard to innovation and how to stimulate not just innovation but the economy through innovation.
[More quotes and notes here: http://books.mydevnotes.com/archive/2...]
[More quotes and notes here: http://books.mydevnotes.com/archive/2...]
October 9, 2012
Very much enjoyed reading this book. This is one amongst those, which i couldn't keep down even when the chapter was over.
Great ideas from the past and a gripping narration of the stories of innovative people who had to overcome obstacles to put those ideas or products in our lives today.
A must read for every government policy maker. This is the way government should orient policies.
Great ideas from the past and a gripping narration of the stories of innovative people who had to overcome obstacles to put those ideas or products in our lives today.
A must read for every government policy maker. This is the way government should orient policies.
December 30, 2014
The comeback lays out the belief that for the US economy to truly get out of the economic down turn we must embrace technology and break down the barriers that are impeding our ability to innovate. It discusses the US's history of innovation from Edison to Apple and then discusses the current legal and political environment that discourages innovation and new business creation in the US
April 19, 2011
Simple but profound steps to get America back on the right track...
September 4, 2011
Full review here: http://www.readingforpleasure.net/201...
January 13, 2013
Easy to read... Could have used more examples to support some of his recommendations. Also, there's no need to repeat.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews