Patrick thought what I thought. Holy cow!
Just recently I had the thought that "the current financial crisis isn't going to be solved by Washington" (Because they're all idiots). They don't care about the end user (i.e. the rest us), they just care about themselves and their bottom line.
I continued that thought with "I think the current financial crisis will be solved by Americans and corporations." That's where innovation is.
So as I'm reading Patrick Neeman's post about How To Get Started In UX I eventually get to this:
The current financial crisis will not be solved by Washington. It will be solved by American corporations and entrepreneurs retraining our workforce and rethinking our work culture.
What?! Dude. That's freaggin awesome!
Not saying I think like him because he's a total UX bad ass and I'm just getting started in UX. It's just cool we thought the same thing (I know, I'm geeking out).
As for why I think Americans and American companies will solve the financial crisis? Look around.
The movement of democratizing education (i.e. Coursera.org, Udacity.com, CodeAcademy.com, KhanAcademy.org, etc). Granted you don't get credit, but you're learning. And learning is half the battle (G.I. JOOOOOOE!).
Americans are pushing for accountability, sustainability, and a change in the status quo. Especially when it comes to the financial ecosystem.
We don't trust traditional banking or Wall Street anymore. Lost faith in real estate. So it's time to change business as usual into business for the future. Business and social systems that are actually good for people and the planet.