Stop blaming others and focus on yourself – NY mayor’s advice to America

The US needs to stop criticizing China and other countries for their production and export success, and get back to work, believes New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“I think in America we’ve got to stop blaming the Chinese and blaming everybody else and take a look at ourselves,” Bloomberg said while addressing a meeting on climate change in Hong Kong.Bloomberg warned that the habit of making scapegoats out of other things can backfire badly.“If you look at the US, you look at who we are electing to Congress, to the Senate – they can’t read,” the New York mayor said. "I’ll bet you a bunch of these people don’t have passports. We are about to start a trade war with China, if we are not careful here, only because nobody knows where China is, nobody knows what China is."There is a certain aspect that Bloomberg finds especially hypocritical – China is now making a big push into solar and other environmentally friendly energy technologies, and surprisingly the attention it gets in the US is far from positive.Last month, the US trade representative’s office said it would investigate China’s policies following complaints that the country was using tactics to shut other countries out of the burgeoning market for clean energy.So NYC’s mayor is wondering how one can criticize the country that’s offering cheaper ways to produce green energy? The US’s supposed to be all for it, but apparently not when it’s made in China.Journalist and author Richard Peres says the US should realize that it's part of a global economy and educate its citizens.“Americans tend to not travel, they tend to not learn foreign languages, and America is very isolated from the rest of the world. I think what Mayor Bloomberg said is true – they do not read, they do get most of the news from the TV,” he stressed.“It is unfortunate but the educational system is where America has to focus, get better educated and competitive,” he added.“The US is in a global economy and they have to compete like everyone else and not look for excuses.”