China and India are overtaking the US in high-tech

"The national academies' report points out that China and India combined graduate 950,000 engineers every year, compared with 70,000 in America; that for the cost of one chemist or engineer in the U.S. a company could hire five chemists in China or 11 engineers in India; that of the 120 $1 billion-plus chemical plants being built around the world one is in the United States and 50 are in China."

A rather telling quote from a recent article at MSNBC which goes on to say how Americans seem to now be more interested in instant gratification, consumption, and leisure. However, there are also some hard statistics that can also show how 18 out of the top 20 schools are American, America is also the most popular destination for foreign high tech students, and the U.S. is on top in many other categories.

The problem seems to be that the rest of the world is catching up much faster than most people recognize. The article goes in to much more detail on specifics. One other point I should bring in to this whole topic is the fact that if China and India DO keep up their pace, then it will be impossible for America to keep up. The bottom line is that our population is so much smaller than either of theirs separately. So, just in shear man-power or work-force alone, they have a much stronger resource. With more people, you can get more done in the same amount of time, or you can even get more done in less time.

Let's also not forget that China is no friend to the US. There are many who also think this "attack" could come fairly soon in the form of an economic-first war.

Just another something for everyone to forget about over dinner tonight.