Tapping America’s Potential
Posted on July 18, 2008 Comments (5)
Another business coalition, Tapping America’s Potential coalition, is encouraging investment an increased investment in science and engineering to strengthen the USA economy.
The economy of the 21st century is characterized by increasing competition around the globe, and nowhere do we see that more clearly than in the scientific fields, said William D. Green, chairman and CEO of Accenture and chairman of Business Roundtable’s Education, Innovation & Workforce Initiative and a member of TAP. America’s ability to innovate begins with the talent, knowledge and creative thinking of its workforce, and businesses and government must continue to work together to strengthen science and technology education.
The report includes progress updates on the TAP coalition’s agenda to advance U.S. competitiveness in STEM through:
- Boosting and sustaining funding for basic research, especially in the physical sciences and engineering
- Reforming visa and immigration policies to enable the United States to attract and retain STEM students from around the world to study for advanced degrees and stay to work in the United States
- Upgrading K–12 math and science teaching to foster higher student achievement, including differentiated pay scales for mathematics and science teachers
- Building public understanding and support for making improvement in STEM performance a national priority
Related: Asia: Rising Stars of Science and Engineering – Engineering the Future Economy – Increasing American Fellowship Support for Scientists and Engineers – Diplomacy and Science Research
5 Responses to “Tapping America’s Potential”
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July 18th, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
Very good post. I agree that the global competition is getting more and more fierce everyday. However, I do believe that American ingenuity is unparalleled anywhere in the world. The education system in the USA is first class; however, higher education is becoming unaffordable to many students, even the bright ones. The manufacturing sector seems to be losing grounds and needs to be regained. In fact, I have a couple of articles on my site addressing the same problem. I agree with the proposals made here. Keep up the good work. We need more articles like this to increase the awareness amongst everyone and a grassroots campaign will certainly revitalize America. After all, all the great inventions came from where? Thank you Sir.
July 19th, 2008 @ 11:33 am
Hmm I’m not sure on the above comment. I think manufactoring will continue to go elsewhere untill the Asia bubble as it were bursts. Then I think we’ll see people flocking back to the USA.
July 19th, 2008 @ 11:51 am
I have posted on the fact that USA manufacturing production has been continuing to grow, and that the USA is by far the largest manufacturer, for years on the Curious Cat blogs. People think because China is growing manufacturing output more quickly and there is a decline in USA manufacturing jobs (that decline is actually less than the decline worldwide – which means the USA has a larger percentage of global manufacturing jobs today than in 2000, and had a higher percentage in 2000 than in 1990) that USA manufacturing jobs are moving. Really productivity is improving more quickly that output and therefore jobs are disappearing everywhere. Even though people think that “USA manufacturing jobs are going elsewhere.” China lost 7 times the manufacturing jobs that the USA did from 1995-2002.
July 19th, 2008 @ 12:03 pm
Agree with both comments above. In the manufacturing sector that I am very much a part of, I am already seeing my exports to countries like India and China growing more now than before ( even after adjusting for the dollar decline ). So Peter’s forecast is happening even now. Additionally, I strongly agree also with CuriousCat in the sense that productivity is at a phenomenal high now and that is enabling manufacturing people like myself to be able to compete very effectively even with Asian countries. I would like to support CuriousCat’s theory about US manufacturing output, because as I mention in my article about the US metalcasting industry on my site, even with all this publicity about China, the US STILL leads the metalcasting industry globally in output. I am very happy to have had the opportunity to comment on this subject. We desperately NEED more articles like this on the internet, so the real statistics can be brought forth instead of just media hype. Thank you Sir.
July 26th, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
I’ve worked in the Aerospace & Defense industry for about 13 years now. In that time I’ve been laid off 3 times. When you work for a company in aerospace as an engineer you are usually considered a salaried employee but just try getting paid for hours you don’t work.
I mention this not to share a sob story but to point out that currently there isn’t a hell of a lot of good reasons to become an engineer. I love the technical aspects of my job but the business side makes one short sighted decision after another. The only explanation is slighlty more complicated than just greedy CEOs with poorly constructed incentive packages.
I’ve got a Bachelors and Masters degree in Engineering. Along the way I’ve attended 4 universities. Allowing more foreign born engineers into the country isn’t the solution. Don’t get me wrong, I want the best and brightest in the USA. What I don’t want is the average engineer from another country brought into the USA. I think this is part of the problem in that supresses the wages and benefits for all engineers. My wife is an MBA. If engineers with Masters degress got equal pay and benefits to just about every MBA in this country there wouldn’t be a shortage of engineering graduates.
The arugments for needing more native born engineers are many. The most obvious are national security and keeping the economic gains of technological innovation here in the USA.
I’ve got a new blog with the beginning of a discussion on this topic. Here’s the link http://blogs.controltheorypro.com/.