America Research and Development issue

Is America losing it's Science Brainpower? US has always considered one of it's competitive advantages as the human scientist asset.

A report discussed on Capitol Hill has said that our ability to complete globally in science and technology is going down a very dangerous path.

Overall student performance in Math and Science is very poor in comparison to our counterparts in other countries. Other countries such as China are investing heavily in research and educations, which can be viewed as a future threat to American competitiveness. Though today America is still the leader in innovation and produces a large majority of the world's wealth.

JOBS - as I have mentioned in previous posts about the American Economy, holding on and growing American Brainpower promotes new JOBS and JOB GROWTH.

The health of the economy and job growth is directly tied to our ability to innovate.

New scientific discoveries drive new jobs - an example mentioned would be the research in solid-state physics which resulted in material used in GPS, Ipods, and medical scanners. Jobs where created to support the production and expansion of those products.

Over the past 5 years, people tracking this issue have said the matter has only gotten worse.Only 4 of the top 10 companies receiving US patents in 2009 were American companies.

"China graduated more English-speaking engineers last year than we did," said Rep. Frank Wolf,  R-Va. "The United States' share of high-tech exports has fallen from 21 to 14 percent, while China's rose from 7 to 20 percent."

The focus needs to be on Education. New progress needs to be made with research funding. Will our government take the steps necessary to keep us competitive?

JZ