by Playfuls Staff |
1st February 2006
On Tuesday night, President George W. Bush has held his traditional State of The Union speech, during which he proposed more research and advanced courses in both fields to boost the nation's economic power, as well as urging an end to the nation’s “addiction” to oil.[more]
According to AP, in his State of the Union speech, Bush called for doubling federal spending on critical research programs in the physical sciences over 10 years, a proposed increase of $50 billion.
Bush also called for training an additional 70,000 teachers over five years to teach advanced math and science courses in high school, where demand for such classes has soared nationwide. He also proposed new math programs for elementary and middle school students, and reiterated his goal to lure thousands of mathematicians and scientists to become adjunct high school teachers.
"Our greatest advantage in the world has always been our educated, hardworking, ambitious people, and we are going to keep that edge," Bush said. He unveiled a math and science agenda as part of a broader competitiveness initiative, saying the aim is to "encourage innovation throughout our economy and to give our nation's children a firm grounding in math and science."
Bush's action comes as rumbles about slipping U.S. competitiveness in math and science have grown louder, emphasized in reports by corporations, universities and scientific groups.
By mentioning the issue in his prime-time address, Bush gave it prominence.
His ideas borrow largely from "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," a sobering economic blueprint put together last fall by an advisory panel at the request of Congress.
That report warns that "for the first time in generations, the nation's children could face poorer prospects than their parents and grandparents did."
But budget realities will limit any action. Money remains the dominant obstacle in a time of war and deficit spending.
Math, science and technology are considered the nation's economic backbone. They influence research, job creation, innovation and the ability of workers to handle blue-collar and white-collar jobs.
On the other hand, oil is also a very important problem. According to the Financial Times, the president warned that the US was too reliant on oil from often ‘unstable’ countries and set a goal of replacing 75 per cent of the nation’s oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.
The Middle East currently provides about 20 per cent of US oil imports, or 2.2m barrels a day, less than the amount from Canada and Mexico. But even if that level were reduced, Middle East countries would continue to exert control over global prices.
“We cannot afford to be complacent,” Mr Bush said, announcing what he called the American Competitiveness Initiative. “In a dynamic world economy, we are seeing new competitors like China and India. We must continue to lead the world in human talent and creativity.”
According to one official, the full cost of the competitiveness initiatives would be $136bn over 10 years. A further $86bn would come from the cost of an additional proposal to make permanent the tax credits for private sector research and development. The training of 70,000 teachers would add $300m to the 2007 budget.
While this year’s State of the Union address lacked the ambition of last year’s doomed plan to reform Social Security, the White House was seeking to “broaden the debate about the generational commitments the country has made”, said Dan Bartlett, counsellor to the President.
Also, this year, Mr Bush’s address was constrained by a federal budget deficit, a stretched military, a Republican leadership focused on internal issues and a partisan election climate ahead of the mid-term elections in November.
Seeking a more measured tone than in previous years, Mr Bush said the US would “continue to lead” and reiterated that its long-term goal was to “end tyranny in the world”. But he stressed a multilateral approach to problems such as Iran’s nuclear programme, while defending his advocacy of democracy in spite of the Palestinian election victory this week of Hamas, the militant Islamic group.
