Of college graduates, 30 percent to 45 percent in India and China have engineering degrees, compared with 5 percent in the United States…
Most alarming to Mr. Compton is that 60 percent of engineering doctorates from American universities are granted to foreign nationals, but they are no longer staying here to work. “The American economy is not as exciting as China and India, and a lot of them are going back home,” he said.
Another Voice Warns of an Innovation Slowdown - NYTimes.com
Further quotes:
“But Ms. Estrin said that the technologies at the root of new products like Apple’s iPod or the Facebook social networking service were actually developed several decades ago. If a new round of fundamental innovation isn’t seeded now, the country will suffer in the next decade.”
And:
“When research does produce new technologies, entrepreneurs and the venture capitalists who back them have been too cautious to make big bets — especially after the costly failures of the dot-com bust. If start-up companies do find financing, she said, new regulations make it hard for them to grow, and the focus of investors on short-term performance discourages companies from taking risks.”
Seems like America (economically and politically) has developed a systemic aversion to risk. Not good when we’re competing against economies that seem to be over their political hump and have nothing to lose.
Labor on, amigos!
