Posts selected fromManagement Blog - Engineering Blog - Investing Blog and other blogs - Science and Engineering Macroeconomic Investment
 The United States has benefited tremendously from the decisions to fund the National Science Foundation (as well as other investments in science) for decades. Other countries have seen the wisdom in those investments and seem to be committing much more to those investments than the US lately. I think it is very wise of them and will serve the world well. But I fear the United States has already allowed itself to lose a great deal of the competitive advantage it built up in the middle of the last century.
In the last couple decades we have been able to coast on the lead we had. We could have many of the best minds come to our colleges and then keep them here once they graduated with advanced degrees. However, the lead we had is rapidly being eliminated. This does not mean the US will immediately be uncompetitive. But it will mean one of the great advantages we had will be greatly reduced.
The United States still has competitive advantages that will continue to serve us well in harnessing advanced technology for economic gain. But others have been making strategic decisions to gain some of those advantages for themselves. And the United States will almost certainly continue to see its scientific and engineering leadership in the world erode. And the economic consequences will be dramatic. continue reading: Science and Engineering Macroeconomic Investment - Innovation and the Creative Commons
Creative Commons is a license that lets the creators of intellectual property clearly define how that property may be used by others. Partially this license is a reaction to the poor way copyright law is being viewed today (see links below).
Partially it is tool that gives creators a way to provide for more interaction with their ideas. And this interaction is a great way to market, in the right circumstances. More managers should be thinking about how their organizations can use this tool to improve performance. continue reading: Innovation and the Creative Commons - Mount Rainier National Park Photos
 - Shenandoah National Park Photos
 Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, lies in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a few hours from Washington DC. Skyline Drive runs the length of the park as does the Appalachian Trail. I hiked several trails in October, 2004 and took these pictures. continue reading: Shenandoah National Park Photos - Toyota in the US Economy
 From Toyota’s web site: Toyota Manufacturing in the USA: by 2008, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build 1.81 million cars and trucks, 1.44 million engines, and 600,000 automatic transmissions in North America.
The company’s direct employment in North America is more than 38,000 and direct investment is nearly $16.8 billion with annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totaling an additional $26 billion.
[In 2016 Toyota manufactured 2,450,000 vehicles in the USA, Toyota promotes a fake number for employees counting many non-employees, employees of suppliers etc., so you can't view the accurate data on their site in 2017 - in 2006 they did post an honest number]. continue reading: Toyota in the US Economy - Health Care Crisis (2006)
The USA health care system is broken and has been for a long time. Symptoms like the huge cost of health care, medical errors, ER problems etc. are all related. continue reading: Health Care Crisis (2006) - Is Innovation Needed to Keep Manufacturing in the USA?
There is no ace in the hole. If countries want to keep manufacturing jobs they are going to have to do lots of things right. No country has such an advantage they can expect to rely on their country being more innovative (or offering cheaper labor, or their citizens working harder or…) than all the other countries in the world.
Innovation has been an advatage for the USA. It should continue to be an advantage for the USA but many other countries will innovate very well (Japan, Germany, China, Korea, Singapore, England…). The USA has many assets: transportation infrastructure, banking, rule of law, educated and skilled workforce, huge market, decent tax laws, engineering education… The key will be to keep focusing on the whole system (and fix things like huge budget deficient, huge current account deficit, excessive health care costs, excessive executive pay…).
I also believe a key competitive advantage will be in applying management improvement concepts such as lean manufacturing. continue reading: Is Innovation Needed to Keep Manufacturing in the USA? - Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky
 - Manufacturing Value Added Economic Data
From 1990 to 2001 China's manufacturing is up 250% (it would be even more if 2002 data were available). The United States (as of 2002) is by far the largest manufacturing economy and USA manufacturing continues to grow faster than global manufacturing. continue reading: Manufacturing Value Added Economic Data - Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation
How intellectual property influences innovation and growth in the economy depends on the application of intellectual property law. No intellectual property (IP) rights would hinder innovation. Complicated application of confusing and overreaching IP rights also hinders innovation. Now I see the USA systems as having overreaching claims of IP rights, IP rights granted for obvious ideas which then are used to extort those actually producing value and overall a system much in need of improvement.
Related: The Patent System Needs to be Significantly Improved - The New Deadly Diseases That Severely Damage our Economy
continue reading: Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation - Manufacturing in Asia (2007)
The USA manufacturing share of global output has risen, not fallen, as we have stated numerous times: Manufacturing Value Added Economic Data – Manufacturing Jobs Data: USA and China – Global Manufacturing Data by Country. The most fundamental facts of global manufacturing – Global output is increasing. Jobs are decreasing (everywhere, not moving from one place to another – decreasing everywhere). China’s output is growing rapidly. The USA is still by far the largest manufacturer, USA output is growing faster than global output and much slower than China’s output. continue reading: Manufacturing in Asia (2007) - Systemic Failures Lead to Many Fatal SWAT Raids in the USA
 ...people being killed in raids by police on the wrong house: police in full swat gear storming the wrong house by accident and then killing occupants. The media in general sees these as “special causes” – isolated incidents. So while tragic the strategy is then to examine what mistake in this unique situation lead to tragedy. I believe this is a systemic problem and therefore see the proper examination to undertake is to look at the whole system. That is, to use the common cause improvement strategy – when the tragedy is seen not as an isolated incident but the result of a system. continue reading: Systemic Failures Lead to Many Fatal SWAT Raids in the USA - The Benefits and Risks of Countries Taking on Government Debt
 - Boston Travel Photos
 - Tiny Homes – A Great Alternative (for some people)
Homes don’t have to be huge as they are now. The ever expanding USA single family home: average square footage of single-family homes in the USA: 1950 – 983; 1970 – 1,500; 1990 – 2,080; 2004 – 2,349.
Tiny houses are looking at going back even earlier than 1950, and that is a good idea. I would also like to see experiments with small houses along the lines of 1950s (or even a bit smaller). By reducing the high cost of housing we can drastically change personal finances for the non-rich in the USA (and elsewhere). continue reading: Tiny Homes – A Great Alternative (for some people)
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