US Senator Jeff Bingaman (Dem. - NM), in "Introducing Protecting America's Competitive Edge Act" says:
We are on the brink of a new industrial and commercial world order. The
reality of the twenty-first century global economy is that China,
India, and other nations once considered economic backwaters have
discovered how to build strong economies around very sophisticated
technology.
On the Pacific Rim, China has increased spending on colleges and
universities almost tenfold in the last decade, and is doubling the
proportion of GDP invested in that same period on R&D to promote
competitiveness and growth. India is raising its funding of science
agencies by 27 percent, and Japan is increasing its investments in life
science by 32 percent, while South Korea is upgrading research spending
by 8.5 percent.
As our share of the world's technical graduate workforce slips,
European and Asian universities are churning out ever greater numbers
of workers in scientific fields. And while young Americans may shy away
from technical careers because they perceive better opportunities in
other high-level occupations, there are still sufficient rewards to
attract ever-increasing numbers of foreign graduate students eager to
pursue science and engineering degrees.
All of these signs, granted, are a cause for concern. Yet none of them,
however, is a cause for panic. To state the facts frankly is not to
despair about the future, nor is it to indict the past. Our task today
is not to fix the blame for yesterday, but to set the proper and
prudent course for tomorrow.
These revolutionary changes in the global marketplace for highly
skilled technical workers are dislodging the long-standing dominance of
the U.S. scientific enterprise.
That is causing our comparative advantage in high tech production to
suffer and, despite the extraordinary power and resilience of our
economy, signals a lengthy and difficult period of adjustment for
American industry, its workforce, and ultimately our strong middle
class standard of living which makes this country great.
It also flags a pivotal moment in American history--a time of national peril, as well as a time of national opportunity.
What should we do about these international challenges? We have
absolutely no choice but to emphasize what we do best in this coming
rivalry. Our most important strengths have always been education and
innovation. Our can-do spirit of commercializing technological
innovation has always been America's core competence. We do it far
better than anyone else--we have done it before, and we can continue to
excel at it.
