Apple, America and the ‘China Problem’

The secret is out: Apple has a worm inching its way through its corporate flesh. January was a tough month on the Cupertino, California company venerated for its innovation and vision. The controversy emerged when an Apple contractor in China, a manufacturing facility known as Foxconn where many brand-name electronics are assembled largely by hand, …

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Joe the Plumber: The Real Untouchable

Curt Eysink is an unpopular man. Less than three months after assuming his post as executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission, he told a panel charged with overhauling the state's higher education system: "We're producing a workforce that we cannot employ in Louisiana." The apparent problem? Too many four-year college grads and not enough low-skill and vocational trade workers. …

American Competitiveness: The New Untouchables or The New Half Truth?

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman makes a superficially compelling case for reforming education in pursuit of American Competitiveness. But is he overstating its promise?