Summer of Bean

The economy was a topic of discussion last week as Jack and a friend of his got together for lunch.

Over lunch our friend asked — with an earnestness, almost a desperation, in his voice — what America is going to produce to lead itself out of the current recession. Given that we’re all turning a serious percentage of our disposable income over to thieves such as AT&T and Comcast, for communications and information that we did perfectly well without, or that used to come a lot cheaper, there’s no answer to that.

As I look at these stunning pictures of the Apollo 11 mission which launched forty-years ago this week, I can’t help but think of all the technological innovation which was required.  And it all started with a speech President Kennedy gave to Congress in May of 1961, about six weeks after the Soviets put a guy in space.  Imagine if George Bush had given a similar speech in 2001, where we could be today.  Instead he gave us a big heap of blah.

Ultimately the race to the moon was a competition with the Soviets over innovation.  Who could be the most creative?  Which got me to thinking.  What this country needs right now is a competitor to scare the crap out of us with technology.  What we need is the Chinese to put a man on the moon.  If that happens, I bet we come firing back in a hurry.  And when we do, Tom Friedman’s green utopia will follow closely behind.

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