As much as I and fellow conservatives favor budgetary restraint, it is clear that we are starving the wrong beast. We are not spending enough in two essential areas - transportation and scientific and technical education. Obama and the Dems missed a golden opportunity to fund both with ARRA. Instead, as I have documented , too much money went to preserving state sinecures and other bureaucratic featherbedding.
Spending on scientific research , particularly at the university level is DECLINING.
Undergrad and graduate degrees awarded in science and especially engineering by U.S. colleges and universities is declining. According to a recent study, Chinese 15 year olds in Shanghai ranked Number 1 in science, math and reading. U.S. students ranked in the 20's.
It used to be that a high school diploma was a guarantor of a decent paying job. No more. Now it's a bachelor's degree. Unemployment among those with college degrees is only 5% compared to an overall rate of 9.8%.
While Mark Zuckerberg's gift to Newark's school system of $100 million is admirable, it needs to be duplicated at least 1000 fold around the country to have a real impact. And THAT assumes that the money is spent wisely.
As we have documented in another thread, states currently experiencing budget crises are CUTTING grants and aid to their state University systems. The very places that must be adequately fiunded if we are just to keep pace with the rest of the world.
One reason Japan experienced not one, but two lost decades is a failure to innovate. We had Microsoft, Google, Facebook and numerous other start-ups that developed and grew into multi-billion dollar corporations. During the same time period Japan had none. The only thing holding China back and enabling us to keep pace is our innovation while they primarily copy what we and others are doing. Yes, they are doing a lot of it by stealing and infringing on patents and copyrights. Japan started the same way until they developed an ability to innovate and develop new and better products. Thus today they have Toyota, SONY etc. Given time the Chinese will do likewise.
In transportation the picture is even worse. One of the most important reasons for our industrial growth was a modern tranportations system second to none : The Erie Canal ; The Transcontinental Railroad ; St. Lawrence Seaway; Panama Canal etc. The modern equivalent is high speed rail and we are decades behind Europe, Japan and China. DECADES Behind ! Here's the really scary part : At present it is doubtful that we have the design, management and construction capacity to duplicate what the French, Chinese and others have done. We couldn't even get a 9 mile Hudson River tunnel project done while the British are preparing a 13 mile Crossrail project under London's center. A $25 billion project that was not touched by recent budget cuts.
We have no alternative. Our airlines cannot add any more domestic flights because there aren't enough gates to handle the traffic. We cannot even maintain the roads and bridges we have now, let alone build enough new ones.
Our love affair with the automobile and airplane has come back to bite us.
What to do ? I am going to commit political and economic heresy and join Ben Stein and others and support a Millionaire's Sur-Tax but with an essential kicker. That every penny collected go ONLY to paying for scientific education and research and to develop high speed rail. Just a modest 2% sur tax on incomes over $1 million would pay for what we need in these two areas. Millionaires could be encouraged to pay it for one very simple reason - SELF INTEREST. If they want to continue being millionaires and let their children and grandchildren enjoy similar success we must maintain and regain our technological edge. If they balk, they can be further encouraged with just one word : " VENEZUELA". Because that is exactly where we are headed otherwise.



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