The Lexus and the Olive Tree
1. Using information from the chapter in The Lexus And The Olive Tree that was assigned to your discussion group and at least two other sources, analyze a topic in that chapter. Our group was assigned to Chapter 8 in The Lexus and the Olive tree, which was about DOS Capital 6.0. Friedman analogizes a computer to the structure of a country. Freidman uses references from DAS Kapital which was written by Karl Marks in 1867. Karl Marks was the author of the Communist Manifesto. Friedman in this chapter to make the concept easier for the readers to understand explained each individual part to the country by comparing it to a computer. The hardware of the computer is the government, or the political system. For example the hardware in the computer is the Micro Processor, the memory, and the complete architecture of the machine. The operating system is the economy; the operating system is the same as talking about what version of windows you have one the computer. Although Windows XP is no longer considered to be a Disk Operating system, they now consider it to be a Network Operating System. The software is the rules and regulations, which would relate to the Microsoft Office Suite, such as Microsoft Word, or Excel. Freidman talks about the term Kleptocracy. When related to a computer I would call it the Virus of the system. Freidman said best, when many or all functions of the state system collapse due to corruption, there is now way the system can run properly. One of the man reasons is since there is no social safety net, and then people try to make to make their own Social Safety Net. Many officials and regulators believe that they are above the law, and the rules and regulations don’t apply to them. A good example is Chinese sign a deal with a foreign business just to get the technology, and then they cheat by changing the rules and kicking them out of the country. Just like a virus that makes the operating system and the software does things that they were not designed to. "Kleptocracy is the billions of dollars that have been made in corrupt privatization programs throughout Eastern Europe and Russia, where tiny oligarchical elites, often in cahoots with local mafia and government officials, have managed to gain control of the formerly state owned factories and natural resources at below market rates, making them overnight billionaires."4 A great example of the extent of corruption in the world was in 1998, India, after a 18 month long search for an official who could be given a 100,000 rupee ($2,380) award for honest government service, in a state where everything from electric hookups to public school enrollments requires paying a bribe to someone.