NEWS Is the pivot to China a bunch of bullshit?

[Spekkio]

We can hand-wring about bean counting STEM PhDs, but the US leads the world in communications technology, information technology, military technology, and biotechnology innovations. Germany comes in 2nd.

The Chinese education system is very good at producing worker bees. I'll start to worry when China produces something that makes us say "oh shit, we better catch up to that!" Right now they are adept at scavenging technology that someone else invented and producing it at scale.

Our education could emphasize STEM more, but we shouldn't model the hyper-competitive nature of education in many Asian countries nor sacrifice our emphasis on individual thought and critical analysis. Additionally, education is also something that must be emphasized in the household. A negative byproduct of America turning into dual income households writ large is that there's often no parent around to crack the HW whip.

 

[number9]

We can hand-wring about bean counting STEM PhDs, but the US leads the world in communications technology, information technology, military technology, and biotechnology innovations. Germany comes in 2nd.

How is that going to work after we take the woodchipper to university research funding? And we start clamping down on student visas?

 

[Spekkio]

The vast majority of American innovation occurs in the private sector and not at universities.

 

[number9]

The vast majority of American innovation occurs in the private sector and not at universities.

I think you understate how much occurs at universities, but let's put that aside. How is it going to work in the private sector if we start clamping down on H-1B and O-1 visas?

 

[Randy Daytona]

How is it going to work in the private sector if we start clamping down on H-1B and O-1 visas?

Fantastic, and long overdue.

American citizens keep their jobs - here in America - rather than companies bringing in non-citizens to take their jobs for lower pay.

Are U.S. jobs vulnerable to workers with H-1B visas?

"60 Minutes" investigates how some businesses have fired American workers and replaced them with cheaper labor: temporary, foreign workers with H-1B visas

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Spekkio]

How is it going to work in the private sector if we start clamping down on H-1B and O-1 visas?

Well, assuming a Trumpain "implement this immediately" transition plan...

In the short term, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft (among a handful of others who disproportionately hire H1B workers) will see devaluation of stocks that will lower the overall value of the S&P 500 index. Many people will lose a few percentage points off their retirement funds while these companies restructure and commence recruitment campaigns.

In the mid-term, the companies recover by raising wages and scalping talent off of smaller companies that don't rely on H1B employees. The smaller companies go out of business.

In the long-term, these companies invest resources into wholistic recruiting campaigns that also involves scholarships and advertising campaigns to get more Americans to study STEM. Once the American pool equals or exceeds the former H1B pool, the companies go back to lowering wages.

I think you understate how much occurs at universities

Roughly 10-15% of research at universities is funded with federal tax dollars. The outlier is MIT, which has 50% of its funding coming from federal dollars. I can't find why that is, but I suspect that MIT is a research institution that is connected with many defense-industrial R&D projects.

The rub is that I can't find a way to meaningfully measure the efficieny of the federal dollars going to universities. At least when the private sector invests, they are doing so by accepting risk of going out of business. This not only motivates people to research relevant topics, but also to produce tangible results.

 

[taxi1]

Roughly 10-15% of research at universities is funded with federal tax dollars.

I'd bet it is way higher (the research). Very little research at Universities is funded from tuition.

 

[mmx1]

Technology companies already have vast overseas campuses and will expand them if the STEM funnel in the US continues to be inadequate.

If you aren’t aware of Lincoln Labs you might want to stop opining about technology research in the US.