THE GATHERING STORM

ARE WE FRITTERING AWAY THE AMERICAN OPPORTUNITY SO ARDUOUSLY AND BRAVELY LEFT TO US BY THOSE WHO PAVED THE WAY OVER THE CENTURIES?

HERE ARE SOME RESULTS FROM A NATIONAL ACADEMIES’ COMMITTEE, HEADED BY NORM AUGUSTINE, FORMER CEO OF LOCKHEED CORPORATION.

IN 2005: “RISING ABOVE

THE GATHERING STORM”

IN 2010: COMMITTEE

MEMBERS WERE ASKED

TO REGROUP AND UPDATE

“THE GATHERING STORM,

REVISITED”

OTHER COMMITTEEMEN:

CHARLES M. VEST, president emeritus

of MIT and recipient of the National

Medal

CRAIG BARRETT , retired chairman and

CEO of Intel Corporation.

CHARLES HOLLIDAY JR. , retired

Chairman and CEO of DuPont.

+ a dozen others

REVIEWING THE 2005 REPORT:

The 2005 GS report, advocates that America must compete for jobs in the increasingly global competitive economy.

Moreover, quality jobs are the foundation of a gratifying life for the nation’s citizenry.

This report paints a daunting outlook for America if it were to continue on the perilous path we’ve been following in recent decades with regard to sustained competitiveness.

WE MUST RESET OUR PATH

A KEY COMMITTEE FINDING: INNOVATION IS THE KEY TO

RETAINING QUALITY JOBS IN AMERICA.

Robert Solow received a Nobel

Prize in economics in part for

his work that indicated that

well over half of the growth in

United States output per hour

during the first half of the 20th

century results from

advancements in

KNOWLEDGE, PARTICULARLY

TECHNOLOGY. This period was,

of course, before the technology

explosion that has been

witnessed in recent decades.

R.M. Solow, “Technical Change and

the Aggregate Production Function.”

Review of Economics and Statistics,

39: 312-320, 1957.

Candidate “A” - - ranks in the lower quartile of the high school class, expects to be paid a wage of $17 per hour (the lifetime average wage of a United States high school graduate) with an additional one-third of that amount in benefits.

Candidate “B” - - speaks two languages fluently, ranks near the top of the class and is eager to work for $1.50 per hour.

THE GLOBAL JOB MARKET OUR KIDS WILL

(AND ARE) FACING !

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE “GATHERING STORM” - -

WHO WOULD YOU HIRE?

Boards of Directors of corporations increasingly face a daunting decision when considering where to locate a new factory, maintenance facility or research laboratory .

Initially such choices mainly affected assembly workers, but now the migration is impacting other skills: back-office administrators, logisticians, engineers and, more recently, researchers, architects, and accountants .

AS THE ECONOMIC GROWTH MOVES ABROAD, SO

WILL GROWTH IN RESEARCH AND MFG. SKILLS.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE “GATHERING STORM” - -

WHERE WOULD YOU SITE YOUR NEW PLANT?

“Market forces are already at work moving jobs to countries with less costly, often better-educated and highly motivated work forces, and more friendly tax policies.”

From a shareholder’s perspective, a solution to America’s competitiveness shortfall has already been found— but at the expense of those seeking jobs here at home. This represents a major dislocation of interests and loyalties that has as yet not been widely addressed or even recognized.

IBM SR. V.P., RALPH GOMORY: “WHAT IS GOOD FOR AMERICA’S GLOBAL CORPORATIONS IS NO LONGER NECESSARILY GOOD FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.”

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE “GATHERING STORM” - -

THE PROBLEM IS HERE AND NOW !

THE 2010 GS REPORT - - FINDINGS: THE UNANIMOUS VIEW OF THE

COMMITTEE MEMBERS IS THAT OUR NATION’S OUTLOOK HAS

WORSENED.

“ While progress has

been made in certain

areas - - for example,

launching the Advanced

Research Projects

Agency-Energy - - the

latitude to fix the

problems being

confronted has been

severely diminished by

the growth of the national

debt over this period from

$8 T to $13 T ”

WE NEED TO RESET OUR PATH

THE 2010 GS REPORT - - FINDINGS:

THE UNANIMOUS VIEW OF THE

COMMITTEE MEMBERS IS THAT

OUR NATION’S OUTLOOK HAS

WORSENED.

“ Further, in spite of

sometimes heroic efforts and

occasional very bright spots,

our overall public school

system—or more accurately

14,000 systems—has shown

little sign of improvement,

particularly in mathematics

and science. ”

FUTURE AMERICAN JOBS &

GROWTH ARE THREATENED

WE‟VE BEEN “KICKING THE CAN

DOWN THE ROAD” FOR TOO LONG

THE SOLUTION LIES IN FULL

FOCUS ON INNOVATION, WHICH

REQUIRES FOCUS ON EDUCATION

IN THE SCIENCES & ENG‟G.

UNLIKE OUR FOUNDERS , WE‟RE VACANTLY

STANDING BY AS OBSTACLES ARISE THAT PLACE

OUR KIDS INTO A FAR LESS HOSPITABLE AMERICA.

2010 GS REPORT: RECAP OF RESULTS

“ In spite of the efforts

of both those in

government and the

private sector, the

outlook for America to

compete for quality jobs

has further deteriorated

over the past five years. ”

“ THE „GATHERING STORM‟

INCREASINGLY APPEARS TO BE A

CATEGORY 5. ”

2010 GS REPORT: BOTTOM LINE CONCLUSION:

MY OWN BOTTOM LINE CONCLUSION:

DOES AMERICA HAVE ANY BIGGER

PROBLEM THAN THIS ??

THE END

ACTUALLY, IT’S NOT THE END - - YOUR VOICE IS IMPORTANT TO OUR NATION. CITIZEN INTEREST, DIALOG AND DATA ARE CRITICAL TO GOOD CIVIC OUTCOMES. AND THAT INCLUDES OUTCOMES WHICH SIMPLY ASSURE PROPER CONDITIONS FOR THE FREE MARKET TO WORK.