Oh, well - it was fun while it lasted ... WHO AGREES WITH THIS djf

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Randall Webmail [rvh40 () insightbb com]
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2008 5:04 PM
To: dewayne () warpspeed com; David Farber; johnmacsgroup () yahoogroups com
Subject: Oh, well - it was fun while it lasted ...

China Surpasses U.S. in Technological Prowess
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on May 26, 2008, Printed on May 27, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/www.alternet.org/86490/

For years, folks like Thomas Friedman and Robert Samuelson have dismissed concerns about our dwindling manufacturing 
base as just so much economic fear mongering. We don't need those dirty manufacturing jobs, they said. There's more 
value added in services, and with our educated workforce and technological edge, there's no reason in the world not to 
have other countries build our play-stations, bikes and TVs.

The only problem is that the manufacturing sector has always been a key driver of technological innovation. When 
manufacturing goes, so does a large share of hi-tech R and D. Now, according to Manufacturing and Technology News, we 
appear to be reaping what the corporate globalizers have sown:

    China has surpassed the United States in a key measure of high tech competitiveness. The Georgia Institute of 
Technology's bi-annual "{High-Tech Indicators" finds that China improved its "technological standing" by 9 points over 
the period of 2005 to 2007, with the United States and Japan suffering declines of 6.8 and 7.1 respectively. In Georgia 
Tech's scale of one to 100, China's technological standing now rests at 82.8, compared to the U.S. at 76.1. The United 
States peaked at 95.4 in 1999. China has increased from 22.5 in 1996 to 82.8 in 2007.

    "The message speaks out pretty loudly," says Alan Porter, co-director of Georgia Tech's Technology Policy and 
Assessment Center, which produces the benchmark. "I think the prospects are pretty scary."

    "In areas like nanotechnology, China now leads the United States in published articles, but what scares me is China 
is getting better at marrying that research to their low-cost productive processes," says Porter. "When you put those 
together with our buzzword of innovation, China is big, they're tough and cheap. Again, where is our edge?"

We had it, but we shipped it off to China, content to sell one another real estate, sue each other and manufacture only 
green pieces of paper to trade for oil and cheap knick-knacks at Wal-Mart.

****

PS: What's that, you don't read Manufacturing and Technology News" I do, so you don't have to. You can just sign up for 
my weekly Corporate Accountability and Workplace newsletter. If you're not digging into the special coverage areas -- 
all of them -- then you're missing out on a lot of content.

Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet.
© 2008 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/www.alternet.org/86490/




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