“Our generation has not had a Sputnik moment…yet. But our Sputnik is on its way. It is coming from Asia. One of the great developments of our time is the economic emergence of China, India, and other nations of Asia. Their poverty is thankfully being reduced. And new opportunities for our employers are opening, but so are new challenges. Asia is not content with making our Christmas tree ornaments: they want to build commercial jets and MRI machines, create software and breakthrough drugs. They are planning for the innovation and technical capital of the world to move from America to Asia.”
“And it is on its way. Corporate investment in Asia is exploding. CEO’s in my high tech state tell me they plan to transfer major operations there, not for the low cost, but because of the highly educated, highly motivated and plentiful workforce. Bill Gates reports that Microsoft’s new ideas come increasingly from Beijing.”
“We take comfort in the fact that we spend many times as much as Asian nations on R&D but don’t forget that our engineers cost about ten times as much as theirs.”
“Two decades ago, American citizens and Asian citizens were awarded about the same number of Ph.D.s annually in physical science and engineering—about 5,000. Today, 4,400 US citizens receive those Ph.D.s compared with 24,900 Asian citizens.”
“America and America’s youth are less and less competitive. Yes, fixing our schools is a social responsibility. It is also a national economic and national security necessity.”
* Governor Mitt Romney, 05-17-2005, Oral Testimony of Governor Mitt Romney House Committee on Education and the Workforce
"Now America is also under attack economically if you will. Not really an attack but we got some challenges, some opportunities, but also an attack. I had lunch not long ago with the chief executive officer of one of our major corporations. He said something which gave me some concern. He said you know we've always lost low-end jobs in the United States. We've seen low-end jobs go to other countries. But now we're seeing high-end jobs--engineering jobs, software jobs, technical jobs. And I asked him, well you're a big employer here in Massachusetts, ten years from now how many of your manufacturing jobs--this is a high tech manufacturer--will still be in Massachusetts? He said 10 percent; 90 percent will move to Asia. I said why are they moving to Asia? Is it because of the low wage rates over there? He said no, it's not wage rates, it's because they're able to have an educated workforce with the skills we need and their suppliers are making cutting edge technology products. That's where we have to be to get those products. I said that can't possibly be true."
"Then I read some books about what's happening in China. Do you realize China is graduating five times the number of engineers that we're graduating in this country. Only 15 years ago the Asian citizens of the world and the U.S. citizens graduated about the same number of PhDs in math and physical science a year--about 4,500 a year. This last year we graduated about 4,700 American, United States citizen PhDs in math and in physical sciences and the Asian countries graduated 24,900. Indeed it's a place committed to higher education, to entrepreneurialism. This is a group of folks who are highly ambitious, who are committed and this is a nation which is thankfully coming out of poverty, China is."
"It represents a huge opportunity for American employers, but it also represents a competitive threat. And we're going to have to be serious about waking up to that threat. I remember what Will Rogers said. He said even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. And America for too long has just been sitting there. We got to get serious about what we're facing on a global basis."
"Let me tell you some things we need to do."
"Labor. Labor needs to recognize that it needs to be just as concerned about the viability of the companies where they work as they are about get more money for themselves..."
* Governor Mitt Romney, 06-03-2005, NH Federation of Republican Women's Lilac Dinner
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