Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited Rapidly Approaching Category 5 (2010) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3.0 Changing Circumstances
3.0 Changing Circumstances
Pages 33-42
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 33... ...
2 W Wei, Colleges fight for Chinese students, China Daily, October 13, 2009.
|
From page 34... ...
$7.1 trillion in wealth based on peak to trough fall in the Wilshire Total Market index, see: http://www.gurufocus.com/stock market-valuations.php. 12 For national debt, see Table 7.1, Federal Debt at the End of the Year: 1940:2015 at: http://www.whitehouse.
|
From page 35... ...
But the continued existence of such assets is not guaranteed -- and many, as is becoming increasingly apparent, are subject to atrophy. Indeed, in recent years most competitiveness measures have trended in a flat or negative direction insofar as the United States ability to compete for jobs is concerned.
|
From page 36... ...
Although of an altogether different causal character, the recent financial collapse nonetheless impacts the far more profound economic downturn addressed in the Gathering Storm report. For example, the funds needed over the long-term to implement and sustain the Gathering Storm recommendations will now be substantially more difficult to obtain and sustain with the deficit running at nine percent of GDP and a national debt officially projected to reach $16 trillion by 2020.20 The current budget plan, if unchanged, is esti mated to result in a 70 percent debt-to-GDP ratio in ten years.
|
From page 37... ...
A total of 8 million jobs were lost in the downturn, and although the economy has made a substantial turnaround in financial terms, only a small fraction of the lost jobs have been recovered.23 In recent decades most new jobs have been generated by smaller firms, many of which only a short time earlier would have been classified as entrepreneurial start-ups. Of the new jobs created in the fifteen-year period prior to the recent economic collapse, 64 percent were produced by small- and medium-sized firms.24 As those firms revive, unburdened by large prior fixed investments, they will possess much more flexibility than large, established firms to locate new facilities wherever a competitive advantage is to be found.
|
From page 38... ...
Another ranking by Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China assigns the United States eight of the top ten positions.34 It is noteworthy that the ranking of institu tions of higher education has historically been very resistant to change. 28 NSB, 2010, Appendix Table 4-27.
|
From page 39... ...
While some argue that the reductions have had the effect of forcing much-needed efficiency measures, in many cases the reductions have gone well beyond improvements in efficiency. In California, home of a world-class set of universities, the state allocation to higher education has, thus far, declined by about 14 percent, triggering what some consider to be Draconian measures of economy -- along with a 32 percent increase in tuition.35 Simultaneously, the endowments of public and private institutions in the United States declined during the recession, suffering an average loss of 18.7 percent during 2008 and 2009.36 Companies tend to locate R&D centers near research universities because of the talent and knowledge pools that are locally available.
|
From page 40... ...
This has been most noticeable in the case of attracting Japanese students, where undergraduate and graduate enrollments in United States universities have dropped since 2000 by 52 and 27 percent, respectively.42 The reasons for this decline are manifold -- but the result is a measure of the challenge faced as the United States seeks to attract, and keep, talent from abroad. Thus far this particularly severe trend is concentrated among Japanese students, with enrollment in United States universities by Indian, Chinese and South Korean students still increasing.
|
From page 41... ...
Yet, many such nations do not face the task of sustaining the lifestyle which has come to be enjoyed -- and expected -- by America's citizenry. India is estimated to have 60 million children suffering from inadequate nutrition.45 The state-run China Daily reports that 150 million Chinese are internal migrant workers from rural areas, who face hardships due to being unregistered in the cities.46 Fully 2.5 billion of the world's 6.8 billion citizens survive on two dollars per day or less.47 China's per capita real GDP is one-twelfth that of the United States.48 As other nations begin to enjoy a higher standard of living their costs of doing business can be expected to rise as well.
|
From page 42... ...
49 M Guarino, Rising Auto Sales Could Rescue Michigan, Big Three, The Christian Science Monitor, March 25, 2010.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.