This is from Andrew Tobias May 03, 2005.
WILL WE BE ABLE TO COMPETE?
Marilyn Perry: “Re the Tom Friedman column yesterday, I work in clinical research at a top level university. Recently we had an opening for an entry level lab technician. We advertised for a student completing their second year of college majoring in biology or chemistry. This position is very flexible enabling the person to gain valuable experience while finishing school. Within a week, we had 30 applications and all but 1 were foreign students – all pre-med, all with 3.8-4.2 GPA's. Where are the American students you ask? Well, I called the professor whom our top choice cited as a reference and was surprised to find out the majority of pre-med students in the top 10% are NOT American students.”
Is it possible that after decades of wealthy foreigners’ coming here for the best medical treatment, the flow of commerce may begin to reverse? It will be a long time before we go abroad for higher quality; but we seem already to have begun going abroad for lower cost.
Andrew also refers us to the CBS News story on people going overseas for quality surgery at much lower prices.
This is a "bubble." Right now we have a high-value dollar that lets us take advantage of the luxury services overseas. Since China, India, South Korea and Japan are all moving more rapidly into the future with better trained workers than we are, the US will drop back into the range of second rate nations. We aren't doing the things necessary to stay in the range of the top world national economies. Without wopring at it and planning for it, the wealth of the last century is going to disappear quickly.
It will take effective government action to change that. Wal-Mart won't do it.
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