The Quiet Crisis

 Friedman talks about post World war II America – Classic wealthy family- that by the third generation – starts to squander wealth.  The dotcom boom left too many people with the impression that they could get rich without investing in hard work.

America is in a Crisis Quiet crisis in U.S Science and Technology This involves the steady erosion of America’s scientific and engineering base, which has long been the source of American innovation and rising standard of living. John F. Kennedy's commitment to a manned space program a) Kennedy spoke about putting a man on the moon b) US government became obsessed with educating young people to become Scientist and engineers.

 As the years passed by fewer and fewer young Americans were captivated by national challenges like the race to the moon or towards math, science and engineering.  The phrase ‘Perfect Storm’- the collision of the older generation of American engineers who are retiring and at the same time that a younger generation is not stepping into their shoes in sufficient numbers.

Dirty Little Secret # 1 Numbers gap a) The engineering degrees granted by American universities are going to foreign students who will return to their home countries. b) More Indian and Chinese students than Americans studying science, computer science and engineering- in their home countries and in American universities.

Dirty Little Secret # 2 Education Gap at the Top “ We are seeing substantial declines in reading for pleasure, and it is showing up in our literacy levels”…….. “People want to the stuff that is fun. But there is no fun in doing algebra ……….. The culture is now geared toward having fun…..American kids need to upgrade their skills their foundational skills in math and science…” a)American culture still producing most creative scientist and engineers but the other societies are dedicated to teach fundamentals and to find more creative approaches to education in their system. b) “Scientists and Engineers don’t grow on trees. They have to be educated through a long process, because ladies and gentlemen, this really is rocket science.”

Dirty Little Secret # 3 The Ambition Gap a) The attitude of the workers in Eastern countries- willing to do what is necessary to succeed. “ The dirty little secret is that not only is (outsourcing) cheaper and efficient”. “In addition to the wage compression, he said, one Bangalore Indian employee will do the work of two or three Europeans and the Bangalore employees don’t take six weeks of holiday” “ This time it is the East that is likely to prevail,…… Money and companies are pouring in not just the prestige nameplates like Bombardier, Whirlpool, Toyota and Volvo but also the network of suppliers……. It is the attitude of workers who take pride and are willing to do what is necessary to succeed……

Dirty Little Secret # 4  The Education Gap at the Bottom America decided to organize its education system by delegating the power and responsibility for education to local boards- allowed each community to organise its own school system, own salary structure----- as opposed to doing it either on a national level. These School board districts were essentially organised around patterns of residents…… so it made for relatively wealthy people to organise into self –taxing districts ( tax in low rates but still produce high per capita per student school budget)

 ( relatively poor people associated with each other in school districts, paying much larger portion of their income in school taxes but winding up with very low per- pupil expenditure

Dirty Little Secret #5  The Funding gap : National Science Foundation (NSF) has been cutting budgets YoY basis and diverting the funds to different areas.  In 2004 Task Force on Future of American Innovation found that between 1970 – 2004 there has been a sharp decline of 37% of Federal funding in Science & Engineering as a share of GDP. This is huge.  It is only in 2006 that President Bush decided to reverse the trend and declared research grants worth $500,000 for 5 years to 200 outstanding researchers

Dirty Little Secret #6  US can access only the basic broadband services.  US has fallen way behind in mobile phone based internet access. This is due to negligence and not making it to priority list of Federal Govt. Tax cuts, missile defense and war on terrorism were the priorities.  In 2005 according to International Telecommunication Union the US household broadband penetration dropped from 13 th place to 16th