In David Brook's op-ed "Relax, We'll Be Fine" in the Tuesday, April 6,2010 New York Times, he picks up on the optimism for America's future of my post "Time Out" . Here are a few choice quotes:
"despite all the problems, America's future is bright."
"Over the next 40 years... the US population will surge by an additional 100 million people...The population will be enterprising and relatively young. In 2060, only a quarter will be over 60, compared with China at 31 percent and 41 percent in Japan."
"The demographic growth is driven partly by fertility. The American fertility rate is 50 percent higher than Russia, Germany or Japan, and much higher than China."
"In addition , the US remains a magnet for immigrants. Global attitudes about immigration are diverging , and the US is among the best at assimilating them (while China is exceptionally poor). As a result, half of the word's skilled immigrants come to the U.S."
" between 1990 and 2005, immigrants started a quarter of the new venture- backed public companies"
"the US leads the world in scientific and technological development. The US now accounts for a third of the world's research and development spending ... The average American worker is nearly 10 times more productive than the average Chinese worker, a gap that will close but not go away in our lifetimes."
There is a lot more to his column and I urge you to find it. I particularly liked his conclusion that " In sum , the US is on the verge of a demographic, economic and social revival, built on its historical strengths".
It's also very interesting to note, in light of some of the anti-immigration hysteria, how critical immigration is to our future economic success.
Eric
Why shouldn't the USA grant a green card to every university graduate (especially those with high honors) from outside the US to help retain some of the best minds in the world? Why educate the best, and as the old saying goes, keep the rest? For a country essentially built on immigration, we have a somewhat perverse policy on retaining people who may dramatically improve our society.
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