Comments on: U.S. tech leadership to go way of 2004 Dream Team?

Unless the states focus on maintaining their gold standing, AEA warns, "American losses will not be confined to the basketball court."

[Dachi]

Well said

"Among other things, AEA calls for all foreign master's and Ph.D. students in the United States to receive "green cards," or permanent residency status."

We refuse to remove uneducated Mexicans and Cubans with criminal records from this country, yet scientists, scholars, and law abiding foreigners have such a difficult time being granted the right to live in the US?

[aroyce]

Students following the money

It's well and good to talk about how the United States "needs" engineers, but business has decided that these people are not particularly worthwhile. Pay and opportunities for advancement determine the worth of a career. I have all the technical degrees, licenses, experience, etc. but I work for a Mortgage company - they pay better. So much for science. People go where the money is and it is no longer in the sciences.

[Al Johnsons]

go where the money is

http://www.analogstereo.com/mercedes_clk_class_owners_manual.htm

What about the massive layoffs?

Hidden in the statistics are the economic and technological losses due to all the layoffs from the continuing recession. I and many of my middle aged cohorts with massive experience and education have been prematurely thrown on the technological garbage heap. If you calculate in the billions of dollars of losses to the resulting loss of income, the economic factors become apparent. There are hundreds of thousands of under-employed or unemployed highly trained people still out there. There is no lack of native talent and the resulting lowereing of expectations by younger people observing what has happened to the work-force, then there is no mystery why there is such a lack of enthusiasm for getting degrees in the computing field.