As a consumer and citizen I don’t care who does the engineering… or the science… or anything else for that matter as long as it gets done.
I bet you wouldn’t say that about defense, or healthcare. Both fields I have worked in recently. Your assumption is that these things are done equally well by any commoditized engineer.
It’s interesting that you assume that the marketplace is “unfair” simply because you have to compete with people who are just as skilled as you but are willing to work for less. I assume its unfair because the costs of education/life/skills are higher here than in other places.
I bet from their perspective it’s “unfair” if they’re not given the opportunity to compete with you. Is it their fault they weren’t born in a country with as much opportunity as the U.S.? What’s fair or unfair often depends on whose ox is being gored.
On this I agree. Ultimately its my, “ox that is being gored.” However we have a nation that has very real needs, one of which is to stay one step ahead of our competition. Its not my or even our national responsibility to look after other nations. One of the things that we need to do as a nation is protect to some extent those industries that are the fundamental engines of invention and new technologies. The only way you can do that is by having people who have a vested interest in the sustainability of a country leading that charge.
Its like food production. I am generally against subsidies for farming, with a caveat. America needs to make sure it can always grow enough food on its own so that it can survive when and if its trading partners decide to stop doing so. The only way we will keep our competitive technological advantage is by growing it at home.
If you offer a company a short term boost to profitability at the cost of a long term inability to find trained workers, guess what the company does? We have created a financial system the places no real value on long range decision making, and the sort of protectionism and I have no illusions about what I am pushing is meant to address that short circuit.
Whew that was long. If you made it through all the way congrats!
