It is amazing how many people are calling for more innovation, and demanding that we spend more taxpayer's money so that we can win the future. Much of this new money is being funded through the Department of Energy, and other government agencies is given to research institutes, new high-tech alternative energy companies, and some of America's top universities and labs. I like to see us investing in pure research, that I highly approve of, still, there's only one problem with that. Let me explain.
As soon as a company does the research, because it was publicly funded, that information becomes public information. The day it becomes public that information finds itself all over the world. Therefore the information and technology that we funded is going to help companies in other countries compete with us. Because we have too many lawyers, too many regulations, higher corporate taxes, and strong unions, we can't compete.
Therefore our technology that we paid for is being used to disrupt our current market positions in various industries with the new disruptive high-tech and therefore we are actually funding the destruction of industry in our own nation. Do you understand what I'm saying here? Okay so, let me give you an example of what I'm talking about and you aren't going to like this one bit.
There was an interesting article recently in the New York Times on April 3, 2012, an editorial titled; "How China Steals Our Secrets," by Richard A. Clarke, which stated;
"For 2-decades officials and private-sector experts have described an alarming silent threat: cyberattacks carried out by foreign governments and that cyberattacks would soon replace terrorism as the agency's No. 1 concern as foreign hackers, particularly from China, penetrate American firms' computers and steal huge amounts of valuable data and intellectual property. Experts told Congress an American company that had all of its data from a 10-year, $1 billion research program copied by hackers in one night - it is rampant cybertheft "the greatest transfer of wealth in history."
Now then, this is even a worse situation, where an American Corporation which spent its own money to do research had its research stolen, and now that that information is out their investment is now helping their competition compete against them. Worse, the competition has a zero cost, therefore they don't have to pay back the cost of the money to do the research, and thus, the cyber theft culprits have a total advantage in the marketplace (who says crime doesn't pay).
Therefore, getting back to the title of this article I would like to re-ask the question; "why should the US pay for research if China steals it the next day?" In fact, as a taxpayer I'm quite concerned about this, and yet I hear no legitimate answer. So I'd like to answer this question for you. The American taxpayer should not pay for research and development until we can prevent our technology from being stolen.
Why don't we let those other nations pay for the technology, and go ahead and borrow whatever they learn for the next couple of decades to make the playing field level again? Indeed, this is a philosophical thought, and an apropos question. It is meant to provoke intellectual thought, and promote action to solve this problem. Please consider all this and think on it.
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Innovation in America. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net
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