US Not Alone In Worrying About Competitiveness

from the them-too dept

Tue, Jun 12th 2007 9:55am — Joseph Weisenthal

Earlier this year the World Economic Forum put out a report proclaiming that the US was no longer the world's hotbed of innovation and that Denmark had assumed the top spot. The warning about US competitiveness was nothing new, but this particular report seemed to ring a little bit hollow, considering that there don't seem to be a whole lot of Denmark-based companies making big waves. It seems, however, that these worries aren't unique to the US. A new report from the European Commission warns that the EU is falling behind in terms of R&D spending, and that the money that is invested in R&D tends not to be as productive as the money that's spent on R&D in the US. The report also warns that, as a percentage of GDP, R&D spending in Europe will soon be surpassed by China. Considering the way many European economies are structured (it's got to be hard to run a tech startup in France, where there's a mandatory 35-hour work week), this report seems plausible, though mainly it just reinforces the idea that the US is not alone in feeling like it's falling behind.

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9 Comments

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Shun, 12 Jun 2007 @ 10:54am

Inaccurate Title?
Shouldn't it say "U.S. is alone in *not* worrying about competitiveness"? It seems like our nation's leaders are blissfully unaware of how far we have fallen.
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dorpus, 12 Jun 2007 @ 11:18am

The race to be less competitive
Asian nations are habitually referred to as a competitive threat, though that does not appear to be always true.

In Bangkok, a 20-y.o. man with good grades was turned down by a university because he has six fingers. The man says he will cut off his extra finger if necessary. (In Buddhist cultures, people with deformities are considered to have bad karma.)

http://www.bangkokshuho.com/news.aspx?articleid=2503

In Southern Thailand, armed Muslim men walked into an elementary school classroom and shot three Buddhist schoolteachers to death in front of the pupils, to teach them that Buddhism is bad.

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=int_30&k=2007061100741

In Southern Thailand, Buddhist terrorists gunned down a schoolbus loaded with Muslim schoolchildren, injuring 9.

http://www.newsclip.be/news/2007611_011852.html

Three provinces in Southern Thailand have outlawed cell phones, to prevent Muslims from talking to each other.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20070602-00000104-jij-int
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- Charles Griswold, 12 Jun 2007 @ 12:28pm
  
  Re: The race to be less competitive
  In Southern Thailand, Buddhist terrorists gunned down a schoolbus loaded with Muslim schoolchildren, injuring 9.
  Why yes, dorpus, you're right. That is totally relevant to the issue of America's slipping competitiveness. *rolls eyes*
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  - dorpus, 12 Jun 2007 @ 12:57pm
    
    Re: Re: The race to be less competitive
    My point is that one needs to look at how other nations are not necessarily always becoming more competitive. Increasing wealth or social instability do give rise to generations of spoiled or disenfranchised youth in those oh-so-good Asian countries. The wealthier Asian countries face declining student interest in math and science, kids who bleach their hair and all act like rock star wannabes.
    
    The US media just repeats the same shrill warnings of Asian kids who are always doing better than before, selectively quoting the cream of the crop.
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Witty Nickname, 12 Jun 2007 @ 12:01pm

Buddhist Terrorists
That's awesome... well, not really, how about ironic.

Islam, Christianity and and Judism all preach peace - but if you look bak at their common heritage you can read about wars and killing other civilizations.

Buddhism won't even let you kill a flea.

Buddhist terrorists. he he. (I will work hard to not find this funny)
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nameless, 12 Jun 2007 @ 12:12pm

once again...
Once again, dorpus comes to the rescue with completely useless stuff.
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- Charles Griswold, 12 Jun 2007 @ 12:53pm
  
  Re: once again...
  Once again, dorpus comes to the rescue with completely useless stuff.
  Yay! My day is now complete. :-P
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Downward Spiral, 12 Jun 2007 @ 7:20pm

U.S. is FUBAR
Where is the industrial base going? The economy is turning into an intellectual property economy... Copyright is twisted far beyond what it was meant to be. It runs forever now so the leaches will keep sucking the money out of you for "content" forever or until the world is struck down in fire and brimstone. Who gains from forever copyright? No one but the top 5% elite rich. The rest of us turn into working class poor who owe for the rest of our lives. Look at South Korea forced to adopt such harsh copyright standards that forbid fair use such as turning your CD into MP3 files for your mobile player. This is the future plans for U.S. businesses to make money off you. They will force you to rent for life, but never own any audio, video, or software. Every month you will pay a fee to keep using it. The online music you pay monthly for is a fine example. Close your account and watch the files stop working(No cheating by using some crack to break them free of DRM).
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- Mike, 14 Jun 2007 @ 9:47pm
  
  Re: U.S. is FUBAR
  Then dont buy it. Dont download it. Dont share it. Dont use it. Dont do a thing. When MILLIONS of us, the other 95%, get our act together and work in sync - then we can destroy whatever it is that we dont agree with.
  
  That is, of course, IFF we all agree with each other. Imagine that. We could topple the music industry in 3 months. DONT BUY A THING. Same goes for movies. Just dont go. Period. If you dont think you can find anything else to do with your time, then call me - I've got plenty of work needing to be done around the house, the garage, the lawn, weeding, oh - yea - and coding too.
  
  I have long since stopped contributing as a consumer. I'd rather sit back and watch the rest of you waste your money.
  
  :-)
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