On the 'demodernization' of the United States
Source: National Academy of Sciences
United States consumers spend significantly more on potato chips than the government devotes to energy R&D.
Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is now lower than when the first personal computer was built in 1975.
In 2000 the number of foreign students studying the physical sciences and engineering in United States graduate schools for the first time surpassed the number of United States students.
The World Economic Forum ranks the United States 48th in quality of mathematics and science education.
Only four of the top ten companies receiving United States patents last year were United States companies.
Thirty years ago, ten percent of California’s general fund went to higher education and three percent to prisons. Today, nearly eleven percent goes to prisons and eight percent to higher education.
China has a $196 billion positive trade balance. The United States’ bal- ance is negative $379 billion.
Sixty-nine percent of United States public school students in fifth through eighth grade are taught mathematics by a teacher without a degree or certificate in mathematics.
Federal funding of research in the physical sciences as a fraction of GDP fell by 54 percent in the 25 years after 1970. The decline in engineering funding was 51 percent.