

America: Still Full of Ideas, But Not Making Jobs - gatsby
http://www.economist.com/node/18621224

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jmitcheson
I am from Australia and have a comment here:

The article quotes that Obama "worries that the next breakthroughs in energy,
transport and information technology will occur elsewhere".

The reality is that these people "elsewhere" would probably love to come to
the US to carry out those breakthroughs, but they don't due to

1) The steep visa requirements, and 2) Even if they were granted access, then
they know full well that they would be hit with patent lawsuits from large
companies the second their work showed any promise.

I can't speak for the entire rest of the world but personally this is the
reason I will not bring my startup to the US - it is simply safer and easier
to keep the company out of the US and sell online to its citizens.

If anyone there really cared they would stop this software patent mess and
hurry up with the startup visa.

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jinushaun
Summary: Design it in the US, build it in China.

The difference between the space race back then and the current situation now
is that "out innovating" China doesn't really lead to many jobs here in the
US.

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pkteison
I worry that we will be missing out on the category of new design ideas that
are developed while building something. Out of a factory full of people
intimately familiar with making a widget, a few of those people should have
some pretty good ideas for a better widget or a better way to make the widget.
But these days, if the factory is in the US, there are almost no people in it.

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SkyMarshal
That is exactly Andy Grove's recent argument as well - innovation comes not
just from people with random ideas, but from the knowledge organizations
develop as they make things. You can't outsource the latter and expect your
innovation pipeline to remain as full.

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protomyth
Their is a shortage of skill trade people in the country. It might be time for
some people to go down that career path.

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ohyes
I agree completely, as I know you are talking about electricians, plumbers and
similar professions.

However, some of that stuff may have gone to china too, sort of. What do you
do if your dishwasher breaks? Throw it out, buy a new one. (Unless you can fix
it yourself!) TV? same thing.

There's also no such thing as a 'milk man' anymore either. I don't think it
was always like that.

I think it might just be the result of automation having increased the
efficiency of production techniques.

The ability to create an abundance of products cheaply could(has?) cause(d?) a
net increase in relative poverty simply because fewer trades are considered
skilled (middle class).

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chadgeidel
To pick a nit... In many communities there actually are people who deliver
milk. For example: <http://www.royalcrestdairy.com/> in Denver/Colorado
Springs area.

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protomyth
Food and milk delivery is actually quite common in ND, SD, and MN. for example
<http://www.schwans.com>

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trebor
With Exxon making $11bn in _profit_ , no wonder no one is making jobs here.
Just because "gas is $5/gal elsewhere" is no reason it should be here—because
our economy runs on cheap gas. When gas gets costly so does food, and so does
the feeble reenergizing of the economy.

