"bg" wrote in message
om...

In regards to the factories in China. I know, I visit every year. You
are absolutely correct about the modern equipment in many facilities.
The USA mould industry is all but wiped out. Not just because the
Southern Chinese do it chepaer, but they also have more advanced
equipment. This is mirrored all over the country in many industries.

But we have to keep thinking positive, while realizing the negative.
We need better research, better funding in the right places. Better
focus. Bush proposed a $1 billion investment in new energy technology.
It is a drop in the bucket. Oilmen were laughing all the way to the
bank, ****ing in their pants. $1 billion is a joke. We need continuous
investment and research on a similar level as the manhattan project.
There is nothing we cant do, if we set our minds to it.

Let's separate energy and manufacturing, to keep things straight. Regarding
manufacturing, it isn't the Chinese who are implementing new technology.
It's the US-, Japanese-, and EU-based multinationals that have partnerships
or their own factories in China. When they have a new innovation they want
to put in place, they now put it in place in one of their factories in a
low-wage country, not in the US. As you say, China's best manufacturing
companies now have some of the world's best technology. So the "innovation"
argument is a dead-flat loser.

Regarding energy, what is it you're thinking about? Fusion? Solar? What?
What is it that we could innovate that wouldn't show up in China before
you've turned your back?

Here's the question you have to ask yourself: Who has the capital to
implement these things, and where is it in their interest to implement them?
The first answer is, large multinationals. The second answer is, where it
will be most profitable for them. And the answer to that is China.

The only thing that would drive a really large US-government-funded research
project in energy is an immediate energy crisis. Not some crisis predicted
for the future, but one that exists right now, today. That's the reality.

Ed Huntress