PeteM
Diamond
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2002
- Location
- West Coast, USA
Just finished watching the first debate between Republican presidential candidates.
My top three impressions:
1) They all did a pretty good job answering the questions. Romney seemed solid as the front runner. Gingrinch was articulate. Bachman was a surprise given some of her past history -- she was far better prepared and articulate IMO than, say, Palin might have been. The others answered well enough, but didn't really project a presidential presence IMO.
2) The entire field, with the maverick exception of Paul, was pretty far to the right and fairly single-minded. There was nothing that government could do right. We shouldn't have saved the auto industry. Paul Ryan is a fiscal genius. We should repeal regulation on the financial industry. More tax cuts are needed. Many regulatory agencies should be abolished. Health care must return to the old status quo. No mention of any case where corporations have done wrong and might need regulating. One candidate grudgingly admitted that we should keep inspecting food.
3) In answer to how we could go about creating new manufacturing jobs, the unanimous response was to cut taxes further on the rich. Maybe eliminate regulations. No one thought anything else mattered.
To me, this is a question worth examining a lot deeper. We've already tried cutting taxes, and it hasn't spurred anything close to a manufacturing Renaissance. Indeed, it just contributed to deficits under the previous and present administrations. And we've cut taxes again, but corporations are still sitting on trillions or investing them abroad.
So, where does science and technology education fit? What about the historic role of universities (e.g. the entire computer industry and Stanford, MIT etc.; the entire biomedical industry, etc.). Where does R&D in the next big things fit? How come the world's most successful manufacturing countries (e.g. China, S.Korea, Germany, etc.) seem to have opposite ideas about government's role? What about the quality of management in different countries and companies? The US used to lead in quality and value added -- now it often leads in greed and manipulation of markets.
Manufacturing doesn't seem to be a case where either Republicans or Democrats have a coherent policy. Any ideas here, what might be a winning platform on manufacturing?
My top three impressions:
1) They all did a pretty good job answering the questions. Romney seemed solid as the front runner. Gingrinch was articulate. Bachman was a surprise given some of her past history -- she was far better prepared and articulate IMO than, say, Palin might have been. The others answered well enough, but didn't really project a presidential presence IMO.
2) The entire field, with the maverick exception of Paul, was pretty far to the right and fairly single-minded. There was nothing that government could do right. We shouldn't have saved the auto industry. Paul Ryan is a fiscal genius. We should repeal regulation on the financial industry. More tax cuts are needed. Many regulatory agencies should be abolished. Health care must return to the old status quo. No mention of any case where corporations have done wrong and might need regulating. One candidate grudgingly admitted that we should keep inspecting food.
3) In answer to how we could go about creating new manufacturing jobs, the unanimous response was to cut taxes further on the rich. Maybe eliminate regulations. No one thought anything else mattered.
To me, this is a question worth examining a lot deeper. We've already tried cutting taxes, and it hasn't spurred anything close to a manufacturing Renaissance. Indeed, it just contributed to deficits under the previous and present administrations. And we've cut taxes again, but corporations are still sitting on trillions or investing them abroad.
So, where does science and technology education fit? What about the historic role of universities (e.g. the entire computer industry and Stanford, MIT etc.; the entire biomedical industry, etc.). Where does R&D in the next big things fit? How come the world's most successful manufacturing countries (e.g. China, S.Korea, Germany, etc.) seem to have opposite ideas about government's role? What about the quality of management in different countries and companies? The US used to lead in quality and value added -- now it often leads in greed and manipulation of markets.
Manufacturing doesn't seem to be a case where either Republicans or Democrats have a coherent policy. Any ideas here, what might be a winning platform on manufacturing?