In Business Week magazine, Andy Grove, founder of Intel, describes what really ails America: lack of manufacturing jobs. He also puts to rest Mr. Friedman's bizarre notion that more high tech startups are the solution:

From Andy Grove: How America Can Create Jobs

"New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman recently encapsulated this view in a piece called "Start-Ups, Not Bailouts." His argument: Let tired old companies that do commodity manufacturing die if they have to. If Washington really wants to create jobs, he wrote, it should back startups.

"Friedman is wrong. Startups are a wonderful thing, but they cannot by themselves increase tech employment. Equally important is what comes after that mythical moment of creation in the garage, as technology goes from prototype to mass production. This is the phase where companies scale up. They work out design details, figure out how to make things affordably, build factories, and hire people by the thousands. Scaling is hard work but necessary to make innovation matter."

No One Ever Said It Better

John Kenny in the New Yorker takes a dig at that self anointed expert in Middle Eastern affairs: No One Ever Said It Better Its pretty funny, too.