Today I read an article subtitled “” Essentially it is a warning from the executives of HP about how the government’s lack of investment in science and technology could spell the doom of America. A senior fellow at HP Labs named Stan Williams saw first hand that countries like India and China are investing billions in research while America is spending billions on bailouts for failed companies. Here is what I have experienced in this matter.

One thing that stuck out to me is that the reporter pointed out in Williams’ lab, “only 18 of the 75 scientists were born in the United States, and 10 of those American-born researchers are over 50 years old; only six are under the age of 35.” My experience in the Valley is that many people who work in high tech are foreign nationals and most of these people are either Chinese or Indian. So where are all the Americans? I think the problem is really quite complex and is a mixture of culture and the basic fact of population. First of all, the popular American culture is not nearly as obsessed with higher education as Asian countries like China, India, and Japan. In China you are pretty much expected to get at least a Master’s degree and it doesn’t surprise me that China invests a lot in its education system. In America kids are mostly taught that they could be anything they want, and that is a good thing.  However, most kids just want to be popular and accepted, and being a science geek will not win any social points. This is not to say that Americans do not value education, but a major problem is that higher education can be prohibitively expensive in this country. Even public schools cost tens of thousands of dollars a year and I am sure a lot of capable students are just priced out. Recently there was a report and only California got a passing grade of C- for its large system of cheap community colleges. Finally, the irrefutable fact is that the total population of Chinese and Indians in the world is about seven times the population of Americans so there is a much larger talent pool to choose from. When you couple that with the fact that most Chinese and Indians are it is really no surprise that there are less American scientists.

The good news for America is that there are still plenty of foreign nationals who are willing to live in this country and contribute to its economy. I am one of them, but I’m not sure how long America will stay as attractive as a golden mountain of opportunity and freedom. A lot of graduate students my age that come from China these days are going back to China after they graduate because they believe that China has more opportunities than America. As noted, Williams saw that in China a 28 year old recent graduate was able to get a $5 million research grant from the government for her research, but here in America a professor would have a hard time raising $50,000. Additionally, a major issue preventing foreign talent from staying is the draconian and frankly bizarre immigration system in America. It takes years for a foreign national to win legal rights to stay in this country, and while they wait they are often treated like criminals or indentured servants. For many brilliant young scientists, this crazy immigration system is really not worth the trouble. They can go back to their own countries and have all the rights of a citizen and make a difference for their people, so why should they go through the gauntlet here? This loss of foreign talent is an incredible waste for America because many of these students get fellowships and are trained by American companies and schools, but end up bringing all the things they learned back to their own countries. If the immigration system were easier on talent then I am sure more people will consider staying.

So will Silicon Valley become Detroit? I highly doubt that will happen in this generation because this area is still buzzing with innovation and there are also many immigrants here who have made America their home and they will continue to contribute. I know that there are people who hate us for having these high tech jobs here, but we would not have these jobs if there were enough qualified Americans. I do believe that America has to get serious about education and training in science to stay competitive in the world, and it has to start as soon as possible. I think the to upgrade schools around the country is a good start, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money that went to failed companies recently. Will the American government ever learn to truly invest in the future long term?

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P.S. Happy everyone!

I was at work all day today and I only caught a little bit of the inaugural parade on the internet when my coworker showed it to us during a release meeting. I did read Obama’s speech online and here are some of my thoughts.

First of all, was very well written and that is no surprise because it was probably slowly crafted by a team of highly skilled writers including Obama. I actually liked it because it was more realistic than what I would have expected. He acknowledged that this country is in a crisis and that “the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many”. He also saluted immigrants and soldiers as people “who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom”. He also seemed optimistic that America will bring in a “new era of peace” and that American people will need to enter a “new era of responsibility”.

Obama also did not promise too much policy in his speech, and I think that is wise. However, this the excerpt where he talked about the role of the government, and I think it was somewhat sad:

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.

Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.

And those of us who manage the public’s knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Basically it says that the government will determine whether its programs are useful and move forward or end them.  This brings up the question of   How will those in power be held accountable?  I think many Americans today feel powerless to do anything about the situation they are in, and I am not sure if the government is the answer.  Generally, people have less freedoms as governments grow larger, and I don’t see that changing under Obama.  Case and point are the newly released $350 billion TARP funds and the proposed $825 billion stimulus.  This rampant government spending is obviously not being controlled and more government spending generally increases the size and influence of the government.

Finally, I saw on many blogs and news outlets that say that the inauguration costs somewhere around $160 million to $170 million, and I think that’s just a bit too much no matter who is getting named president.  $160 to $170 million could fund many companies here in the Valley, but instead its being spent on a big party in Washington D.C.    How is that for spending wisely?  I do hope that Obama will usher in a government that’s moral, wise, and frugal, but I don’t know how much one man can do to change this giant lumbering institution that is the United States government.  I also don’t know if Obama wants to actually make the government more efficient because he is pretty much the CEO of a giant non-profit organization.   This organization has no need to be more efficient because it has a giant endowment in the tax revenues of the American people, and its CEO acquires more power as it expands.
Will  we see a new era?  Only time will tell.  Meanwhile, the parties  rage on in Washington D.C.

Yesterday Google announced that they are laying off a quarter of their recruiting staff and also closing down several offices and less popular services. This of course made all the major news outlets because Google is supposed to be recession proof. Here are my thoughts and experiences on the matter.

First of all, it sucks to be one of those people losing his or her job, but seriously, Google’s whole recruiting department has a bad reputation in the Silicon Valley. Google recruiters are known to be very unprofessional and haughty. I have heard tons of stories where Google recruiters wasted people’s time by rescheduling interviews or doing a switch and bait on the job. Their recruiting process is intentionally vague to hold up the exclusiveness of Google, but that is also unprofessional because job seekers need to know what they are going to do. I think they treat people like crap during the whole recruiting process because they assume that everyone wants to work at Google, and that turns a lot of people off. Funnily enough my friend who works at Google actually hated the recruiting experience he went through, and when he heard that these recruiters were laid off he cheered a little.

Another thing that many people have said about Google is that they do not need more than 20000 people to run its business. Our CEO said this week that “Google just hires a bunch of PhDs that do not know how the real world works.” That is why they have so many weird projects that start up and then shut down. Also, they have a lot of redundancy in the various services they offer and that is just wasteful. The way Google operates is extremely inefficient, and pretty much everyone knows it. Seriously I don’t know why their shareholders haven’t protested the way Google operates because if they trimmed all the useless stuff and focused on their core business then I wouldn’t be surprised if their earning per share were $20 instead of $4 to $5.

Anyway, I am hoping that Google becomes more serious about its business and announce more layoffs. It would be painful for those laid off, but maybe they will start something new and make the Valley more interesting. Google is so last century.

I’m sure you have heard about President-Elect Barack’s Obama’s new push to pass a stimulus package.  I couldn’t find a a comprehensive article about the details of the plan, but what’s being reported the most in the media are the tax cuts which make up about 40% of the package.  Here they are, and here is why I think they are mostly nonsensical and probably would not do much to lift the economy.

compare levitra viagra cialiscompare levitra viagra cialis- I know that every bit of money helps, but is this really the best way to spend billions of dollars in stimulus money?  $500 per person works out to be about $40 per month.  I guess it’s good for a cable bill, but will $40 per month stop a family from going into foreclosure?  Will $40 per month be enough to stop local shops from closing?  Another thing is, didn’t we just have a round of stimulus like this from the Bush administration?  That one was actually $600 per worker or $1200 per couple plus $300 per kid.  Just look at how much that helped and you’ll see how much this one will help.

compare levitra viagra cialis – This one has so many holes that it’s like a piece of moldy Swiss cheese.  First of all, if a person lost a job at business A and then finds a job at business B, is business B really compare levitra viagra cialis a job? It seems like that would be a net gain of 0 jobs to me.  Additionally, some businesses are doing well and some are doing poorly.  The ones that are doing poorly are very unlikely to hire someone just for the tax benefit because adding an employee is very expensive and it would only make sense to add an employee if the employee’s output of work can bring a profit.  On the other hand, the businesses that are doing well may already be planning to hire people and they will get stronger due to the tax rebate, but they probably did not need that money to begin with and again this tax rebate would have been pointless.    Another thing is that it’s unclear how long a company needs to keep an employee to claim this tax benefit and what type of employment it would be.  If those details are not clear I can see shady businesses exploiting this by hiring some person part time for half a month and then claiming the credit for a profit.  Anyway, I don’t think this tax stimulus will actually be an incentive for any logical business to add to their payrolls and I highly doubt that this will bring about a net gain in employment numbers.

compare levitra viagra cialis- This particular item isn’t mentioned a lot on the big news sites probably because it’s just bizarre.  I see this particular clause benefiting the giant financial firms the most because they have had the most significant losses in the last year, and they also had the biggest profits in the years prior.   A lot of companies in other industries did not suffer as badly, and the good responsible companies that were still making a profit in 2008 will not get a boost.  Again, there is no guarantee that the companies that receive this benefit will create jobs and expand the economy.  In fact, I think in this economy only the strong companies that still have a profit are still hiring because they know that they can get discounted labor and they are in a good position to use the extra labor effectively.  It is almost like Obama wants to punish the companies that had good management to make a profit despite difficulties by giving their tax dollars to those who may have been extremely irresponsible and I think it’s plain stupid.

Finally, there is a question that everyone should be asking “WHERE THE  (insert your favorite expletive here)  WILL ALL THIS MONEY COME FROM?” Oh that’s right, they will just add it to the national debt, and that will be paid by Americans for generations to come.  I know that Obama’s plan isn’t finalized, but so far I haven’t heard a single good idea from him, yet.

When I was in Southern California there was a truly bewildering story of a man who dressed up as Santa and murdered nine members of his ex-wife’s family, and when I came back to the Bay Area I read about something even more disturbing. In the past week the most bizarre and tragic story in the Bay Area has been the shooting of 22 year old Oscar Grant by a young BART police officer.  I only saw the more “conclusive” cellphone videos today and I have to say it is truly incomprehensible.  The young man was clearly on the ground and secured by more than one officer, and then the second officer stands up and pulls out his gun and fires into the victim’s back.  It took several seconds for the officer to take out the gun and the whole thing really looked like an execution and it is just unbelievable.

A lot of people including myself are wondering why the officer did what he did.  Apparently in the past there had been two more incidents where BART police blew away unarmed people, but this is the first time when citizen reporting with cellphone cameras have brought so much attention to a BART shooting.  According to the police immediately started to confiscate cameras after the incident, but a few people managed to keep their phones since their traincar left the station just in time.  Technology has made it possible for everyday folks to watch the watchmen, and that is comforting and yet disturbing at the same time.

The aftermath of the incident is yet to be played out.    Right now there is a protest at the Fruitvale BART station and trains are passing the station in both directions. more than 500people have showed up around 6pm and the station was closed since protesters blocked the fare gates.  The protest is scheduled to last another 2 hours.

Then there is the lawsuit a lawyer filed on behalf of the family.  The family is seeking $25 million dollars from BART, and it’s sad to say that this will be a Pyrrhic victory at best since no amount of money will bring Oscar Grant back.  BART could probalby cover the costs of the lawsuit with their liability insurance, but I am sure more public funds will be spent and ridership might even decrease a bit.  This is not good for the public since BART is such a vital service for so many people here in the Bay Area, but there has to be some accountability.

These horrible stories just show that you may never know when you will meet your maker, and you are never as safe as you think.  The police are supposed to be peace keepers, but some people let power get to their heads.  The classic showed that ordinary people who are put in positions above others stepped over the boundaries and I am sure it happens every single day.  Thankfully the internet gives the people a little bit of power back.

Finally, I offer my condolences to both the families of Oscar Grant and the officer.  I hope noone else gets hurt in the midst of this and we don’t have  full scale Rodney King-esque riots here.