Modern student
EETimes.com – The CEO interview: with Intel’s Craig Barrett — The interview was lackluster except for this one interesting comment:
You’ve been outspoken on U.S. competitiveness. What must the U.S. do to remain competitive against foreign nations now and in the future?
Barrett: There are four basic things governments do to make their economies competitive. They have an education system that works. You would be hard pressed to say that the K-12 education system in the United States works by any objective test.They invest in basic R&D. You would be hard pressed to conclude that 25 years’ of flat physical science and engineering R&D spending by the government is investing in our future.
Infrastructure is the third issue. You would be hard pressed to say the U.S. is a leader in knowledge-based infrastructure. The government has the opportunity to do no harm. You provide incentives for jobs. You provide incentives for business. You don’t expense stock options.
Working on a Masters in Technology Education I find this interesting. Too bad that when the feds get involved in education in some attempt to “fix the system” we usually end up doing worse. Take for example what’s happening with no child left untested (whoops, I mean behind) where a lot of districts are starting to teach only to the test forgoing making any of it useful or “tranferable.” This is going to be a big problem, but it’s far too big to get into here. If anyone really wants to know about the educational problems in the US I’m open to speaking with you but it’s a pretty nasty and complicated affair.
“You don’t expense stock options.”
Someone needs to explain to me how giving company executives millions in stock options helps to keep the USA competitive. From my perspective, these execs get mega bonuses for outsourcing, laying off workers, and cutting facility maintenance to the bone. It’s a rare company that looks more than two years down the road for investment payback or that diverts a substantial portion of its profits into R&D.
So if you expense stock options and companies have to be a bit more frugal in their contracts, where are these disappointed CEOs going to go — China? India?
Here’s a test question:
Which one of these does not fit?
1) Education
2) Research and Development
3) Infrastructure
4) Expensing stock options
Someone has an axe to grind. (No Axe Left Behind?)