Was really directing my post at others, from you posts I have seen you seem like a well educated sophisticated individual. The countries that are ahead of the US in the study are small countries, highly centralized in terms of regulations, with mostly urban populations and so it is relatively easy for them to create a networked society. In the US you have huge geography to contend with, a large rural and semi rural population, very deregulate and local control of infrastructure, and I hate to say it, but on average a less educated and sophisticated populace. Of course if you compare Silicon Valley with any of those countries there is no comparison, but the US as a whole has a lot of dead weight that the centers of commerce and innovation are not really touching, more's the pity. As a country the US is not utilizing its resources efficiently and very far from its potential. A little more socialism would not be such a bad thing. A couple of quick examples would be the FCC mandating universal standards for certain technologies so we don't have a fragmented cell network unlike the one in Europe. Another example would be universal healthcare which would free US business from a burden that companies abroad do not have to contend with. A state funded tort system so that company's would not be burdened with huge insurance premiums and live under threat of the plaintiffs lawyer. A real commitment to education so that we would have a workforce that is capable of filling the companies that create the high value added products. We already have socialism in the US but we just aren't very good at it, in Europe they take it too far and they are paying for it with big budget deficits. The good thing is that it is easier to go with more socialism than less. Ie easier to give the population and business more government support than take it away so we have an advantage there. Now if we could just keep from getting side tracked by these foreign policy ambitions for just one generation we might have a chance to stem get closer to our potential as a society.
Our system couldn't handle socializing anything...too much bullshit bias and lobbying. Look back at the Medicare bill a few years back...of course, even though seniors make up the largest group of pharma-buyers after veterans I believe, there was a clause in the bill that prevents the seniors as a group from negotiating better pricing. You only have to realize that lobbyists from drug companies would rather squeeze profits that way, that our elected officials are complicit, and you have the potion for a society devoid of reinvesting in itself and instead a society that is artificial and only cares about money...not making anything better for the world. Pretty disgusting.
I don't think I have. Actually I think we agree. (at least on immigration policies) I think. The chest-banging referred to witty one-liners that claim the problem is with those who dare to challenge the US's #1 place in anything. And I still for the life of me can't decipher what people call socialism here. I lived in socialism. Its nothing like what they have in Denmark, The Netherlands, etc. There is this (rather uneducated) American saying going around that 'Europe is socialist'. Well, its not. One misconception is that because Europe has more laws... It is due to the Latin-Germanic tradition as opposed to the Anglo-Saxon way. But for George W's sanity's sake, don't call the Romans socialist.
I didn't say anything about challenging the US in a way that was patriotic...I even stated that it wasn't in a patriotic way but a "where did it all go wrong" way meaning that a country that has TONS of everything needed to be the innovative leader failing at it is insane in a "what the fuck happened to this country" type of way and not a patriotic way. Norway, Sweden, and some other countries like Denmark with their socialism aren't Poland or Romania. I know that...I traveled for 6 months in Eastern Europe and know that they are socialist systems in some ways and not in others. It's not oppressive and I know that...I've often said I pay almost as much taxes as Canadians and yet they have the free health care and the finer quality of life from what I've seen spending 3 or 4 months there. Once again...I think you misread due to my failure to properly explain my point. It was a hard opinion to express without sounding patriotic...I know.
You can view the full rankings list here: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gitr/rankings2007.pdf And, yes, it is a biased assessment. Ranking systems like this are at least partially dependent on subjective criteria and should be recognized as such. Case in point: Canada ranked 11, Israel ranked 18. Not to offend our northerly friends, but I cannot help but question the veracity of this claim. Among the more recent innovations that Israel has offered is the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Also, "Israel has more scientists and engineers, proportional to its population, than any other country..." [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2mgYutwVFnM]. And if that's not the very essence (and direct result) of what the BBC calls "government policy favourable for fostering a culture of innovation and progress," then I don't know what is. Just my opinion. But I'm also of the opinion that America IS number 1, so take it with a grain of salt. BTW, military technology counts.
thanks for a straight answer rather than patriotic nonsense. what accounts for a big drop in 1years time?
israel has been dropping in international educational competitiveness for years. It started with the change in mathematical curriculum to one similar to the one in US. curriculum . if not for the influx of russians in the 80's today's story would not be so rosy. as for the US there has a reverse brain drain as foreigners educated in the US go home and start business overseas
If study is to be believed can you tell me where is South Korea? They used to be way ahead of everybody, especially considering study is supposed to be network connectivness etc The Report uses the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to measure the degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in and benefit from ICT Reg. technology overall, I've read 1-2 weeks ago in Economist, U.S. is #1 whether you like it or not. Technology doesn't equal to Internet only.
US offers the world's first tisp FREE! Which other country in the world can do it? http://www.google.com/tisp/