<b>IN’s Cooper:</b> Should the U.S. crib from other nations? You bet

America is a great nation, in part because we have always believed in better tomorrows. Look at the source of many of the ideas, products and methods that have made things better, faster, cheaper, more useful and more fun over the years, and you’re likely to find an American — or the restless foreign-born wannabes who were drawn here by our spirit, freedom and opportunities and became Americans.
But as great as we are, we don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. And one sign of greatness, whether seen from the humility or the competitiveness perspective, is the ability to recognize the good ideas of others and use them.
Given our problems and challenges — ranging from the crummy economy, to a too-high rate of intractable poverty, to an expensive but flawed educational system — it’s time we made a greater effort to identify the best of what works in other countries, and put those ideas to use here.
Let me start with a ridiculously simple example of an idea we could appropriate from abroad.
Before the Dutch adopted the euro as their currency, they printed their guilders with little Braille bumps to help the blind identify the denominations. What a great idea! The U.S. government has said that adding the bumps to our currency would be too expensive and that the bumps would flatten out during circulation. I say if the Dutch did it 20 years ago, we could do it, too.
Take a bigger example: our education system. We’re trying charter schools, smaller schools, independent schools and all other sorts of experiments. Why not try importing one of the top foreign models as an experiment? If we’re too timid to bring in educators from Singapore — which regularly whips us in the international education rankings — let’s ask the Finns for help.
Indeed, mild-mannered Finland is another country which regularly tops us in education. So why not have some Finland’s finest come to the USA and show us how they do it on about $1,500 a year per pupil (we spend thousands more), which includes health care and free lunch for all students. By the way, Finnish schools produce 100% literacy and nearly a 100% graduation rate from primary school.
Let me touch a political third rail and mention another huge American problem: drugs. Our nation’s current drug policy contributes to the incarceration of a larger percentage of our population than any other Western nation. It also contributes to political instability and corruption in Mexico, which costs us billions in national security and makes a mockery of our immigration laws. And let’s not even mention the role of drugs in funding terrorism.
Why not take a page from Portugal, Denmark and Switzerland, and decriminalize drugs? Until 2002, when it decriminalized drug use (but kept in place punishment for traffickers), Portugal — and especially parts of its capital, Lisbon — were overrun with drug users. Crime and diseases including hepatitis C and HIV were rampant. Since then, drug use has declined after an initial spurt, and crime has come down substantially. As an experiment, isn’t drug decriminalization worth a shot?
For better financial ideas, we would do well to look at a country much like our own: Australia.
“Superannuation” is what the Aussies call their national retirement program, which mandates that employers put 9% of an employee’s earnings into qualified funds. Employees can make voluntary contributions on top of that, and a means-tested government pension system exists as a safety net for those at the bottom end of the economic ladder.
Australian businesses complained about the burden the system imposed when it was introduced in 1992 but today benefit from the more dynamic and liquid domestic capital market the system has spawned. Would it kill corporate America, which is rolling in dough despite the weakness of our recovery and which has managed to asphyxiate defined-benefit pensions while lining CEOs’ pockets, to kick in the money to secure the future of their workers? I doubt it.
(By the way, since financial advisers guide much of the superannuation investing, Australia requires that all financial advisers act as fiduciaries.)
For further proof that adopting foreign ideas can work spectacularly well, look at what Japan did after its defeat in World War II. Instead of continuing to turn out the low-quality junk they produced before the war, Japan’s manufacturing leaders listened to Joseph M. Juran and W. Edwards Deming — American experts in statistical-quality-management techniques who unfortunately were being ignored in the U.S. — and began making high-quality, superior products that were less expensive than the competition’s.
Using American know-how, consider what Sony, Honda and Minolta did to RCA, GM and Kodak.
Isn’t it time that we took a lesson from Japan and looked abroad for good ideas, too?

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