Will We Discuss Bigger Ideas or Dead Ideas?

[John R.(Dick) Troll]

In his recent book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas, Matt Miller writes about the difficult, almost intractable, challenges that lie ahead for America. Global completion and the increasing pace of technological change present us with perhaps our most severe test since the founding of our country.
And, to make matters worse, we are ill prepared to face this test. The reasons are many but Miller posits that our greatest threat is how tightly we cling to “dead ideas”. We get so comfortable with certain ideas that we hold on to them long after it is obvious that they no longer work.
In the economic sphere Miller identifies and discusses 6 dead ideas that severely cripple our ability to nimbly face the future. These 6 are:

Free trade is always good, no matter who gets hurt
Taxes hurt the economy
Employers should pay for health insurance
Schools are a local matter
Money follows merit
Our kids will earn more than we do

When we meet at the Bigger Ideas conference next week will we spend our precious time on bigger ideas? Or will we be bogged down with dead ideas?

[Pat Coyle]

Great question. I'm going to forward this post to the speakers for their consideration...

[John R.(Dick) Troll]

Pat. Thanks for your reply. Has anyone considered whether we should abolish the states and reconstitute America by regions? Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois are all hurting. The degree of the hurt varies but the hurt is there.
But guess what- Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois each have life sciences/biotech jobs program, each has an advanced manufacturing program, each has a government, industry, higher education alliance program, each uses tax abatement and other tools that I am forgetting to develop and attract jobs.

This approach often results in a zero sum game played by each state. Is there a more rational way to allocate resources without the duplication that often occurs when good ideas cross state lines? I'm not selling the idea. I 'm selling a discussion of the idea.

[Nila Nealy]

I just heard about the book about a week ago and wondered the basic premise. (Then promptly forgot to look.) Thanks for posting this overview. That list of ideas reads like a set of absolutes that could certainly hold people back from objectively considering alternatives. I think I may need to spend more time with the book to understand. And I'd love to hear the varying sides of a debate around the concept of dead ideas.

[Admin Smaller Indiana]

So you were there. What do you think? Did we open the conversation on bigger ideas?