The first kind is a collection of plodding blockheads who will destroy innovation and progress through an inability to "get" the high-tech industry.
Name the issue, and some clod working in one of the United States' many capitol domes has screwed it up. The
A major sticking point is that the tech industry is not facing up to the fact that the challenges of this era are different to those of the past.
"I don't think it is enforceable. How does the U.S. enforce spam? How does
On the other side is the second kind of government--the one that gives out money for research projects.
Everyone loves these guys. This government created the Internet and then turned it over to the public to use. This government rents out its national laboratories for projects such as the one to develop
The dedication in October of a building at the West Coast campus of Carnegie Mellon University highlighted the benefits of public/private cooperation. The building is located at the
"Twenty years ago, one-fifth of the world's Internet traffic went through here," said Eric Schmidt, Google CEO and a Carnegie Mellon trustee, referring to the Ames facility. "These buildings have a history in Silicon Valley that is much deeper than people know."
The problem with this dichotomy is that these two types of governments are made up of the same people.
The public isn't buying into the tech miracle at the moment.
Now, the U.S. tech industry needs to move on from holding two opposing views of its relationship to lawmakers. Why? For one thing, it will need help. Governments in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and many European countries are using tax incentives and university funding to position their respective nations as centers of economic development in the 21st century.
"Competition for jobs is going to be the key battle in the next several decades," Intel CEO Craig Barrett said during a press conference at a Semiconductor Industry Association (
To compete better, U.S. federal and state governments will need to increase
The public, however, isn't buying into the tech miracle at the moment. It's hard to sell the idea that issuing bonds or granting tax breaks to large, profitable corporations will help bring prosperity to a community, when a substantial portion of that community has been laid off.
Unfortunately, many in the tech industry still think it's 1994, when the public didn't mind corporate perks. For instance,
Similarly,
A major sticking point is that the tech industry is not facing up to the fact that the challenges of this era are different to those of the past. In the '50s and '60s, billions of government dollars went to private-sector companies to devise technology to beat the Soviets.
Now, tech companies are asking for funding so that they won't have to go overseas to stay competitive. In other words, they want money to fight themselves. It's a tough sell.
In an interview at the SIA dinner,
Unfortunately, "other companies have huge capital grants," he said. "The U.S. will have to do something, or economics will dictate the results."
That's a good point. However, to some people, this could sound suspiciously like a veiled threat. I asked him whether companies need to change their tactics; to better explain their position or lobby harder for funding.
"Companies don't do that," Corrigan replied. Instead, they move.
Still, when I beg for money, I'm usually at least willing to act like I'm grateful.
Biography
Michael Kanellos is editor at large at CNET News.com, where he covers hardware, research and development, start-ups and the tech industry overseas. He has worked as an attorney, travel writer and sidewalk hawker for a time share resort, among other occupations.
