Federal funding of research in the physical sciences, as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), was 45% less in fiscal year (FY) 2004 than in FY 1976.⁴⁰ The amount invested annually by the US federal government in research in the physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering combined equals the annual increase in US healthcare costs incurred every 20 days.⁴¹

“If you can solve the education problem, you don’t have to do anything else. If you don’t solve it, nothing else is going to matter all that much.” —Alan Greenspan, outgoing Federal Reserve Board chairman⁴²

“We go where the smart people are. Now our business operations are two-thirds in the U.S. and one-third overseas. But that ratio will flip over the next ten years.” —Intel Corporation spokesman Howard High⁴³

“If we don’t step up to the challenge of finding and supporting the best teachers, we’ll undermine everything else we are trying to do to improve our schools.” —Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Former Chairman, IBM⁴⁴

“If you want good manufacturing jobs, one thing you could do is graduate more engineers. We had more sports exercise majors graduate than electrical engineering grads last year.” —Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman and Chief Executive Office, General Electric⁴⁵

“If I take the revenue in January and look again in December of that year 90% of my December revenue comes from products which were not there in January.” —Craig Barrett, Chairman of Intel Corporation⁴⁶

“When I compare our high schools to what I see when I’m traveling abroad, I am terrified for our workforce of tomorrow.” —Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft Corporation⁴⁷

“Where once nations measured their strength by the size of their armies and arsenals, in the world of the future knowledge will matter most.” —President Bill Clinton⁴⁸

“Science and technology have never been more essential to the defense of the nation and the health of our economy.” —President George W. Bush⁴⁹