[opendtv] Friedman: Losing Our Edge?
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2004 04:17:02 -0400
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Losing Our Edge?
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
April 22, 2004
I was just out in Silicon Valley, checking in with high-tech
entrepreneurs about the state of their business. I wouldn't say they
were universally gloomy, but I did detect something I hadn't detected
before: a real undertow of concern that America is losing its
competitive edge vis-à-vis China, India, Japan and other Asian
tigers, and that the Bush team is deaf, dumb and blind to this
situation.
Several executives explained to me that they were opening new plants
in Asia - not because of cheaper labor. Labor is a small component
now in an automated high-tech manufacturing plant. It is because
governments in these countries are so eager for employment and the
transfer of technology to their young populations that they are
offering huge tax holidays for U.S. manufacturers who will set up
shop. Because most of these countries also offer some form of
national health insurance, U.S. companies shed that huge open
liability as well.
Other executives complained bitterly that the Department of Homeland
Security is making it so hard for legitimate foreigners to get visas
to study or work in America that many have given up the age-old dream
of coming here. Instead, they are studying in England and other
Western European nations, and even China. This is leading to a
twofold disaster.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/22/opinion/22FRIE.html
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