US-China decoupling: a reality check — Daniel P. Goldman

Important.

Here are a couple of tidbits.

Together, China and Russia have an eight-to-one advantage over the United States in engineering graduates....

Pumping them out. In addition, high school and undergrad STEM education in Russia, China, and some other countries, including Iran, is more advanced than the US. The US faces a steep uphill climb to compete.

It’s important to remember that every single invention of the digital age, from the microchip to the semiconductor laser, to the graphic user interface, to light-emitting diodes, to plasma displays, and to the Internet itself, started with a Defense Department research grant to one of the great corporate labs. And without exception, every one of these technologies was discovered when someone was trying to do something else.

China and Russia's corporate and military integration is more thorough than the US. In the US, discoveries filter from military application to commercial application. In Russia and China there is co-development.

While the US frets about accounting, its competitors are focused on developing and deploying real resources.

The good news is that you can't run an empire for long on this shaky a foundation. Multipolarity here we come.

Asia Times
US-China decoupling: a reality check

Daniel P. Goldman