America’s Broken Brain Trust

In my previous blog on the “blame game.” I used a clip from Jon Stewart to illustrate how the republicans have managed to blame Bill Clinton for just about everything. Jon Stewart played the six degrees of Kevin Bacon game with great style - illustrating this point.  With the 2010 Senate races and the 2010 House of Representatives  election - not to mention the 2010 Gubernatorial elections - this type of behavior can only intensify.

Now it looks like the republicans are dancing around with fly paper on their shoes.  When asked what they would do to cut deficits - what programs they are willing to cut - they do a Kabuki dance combined with a limbo act in order to avoid an substantive answers.  They definitely didn’t want any unpopular answers to “stick.”  David Gregory found that out when he tried to nail If it weren’t so pathetic - it would be funny. By his own words - their stated agenda was “gauzy” at best. Here is a segment from “Meet the Press” with David Gregory.  Listen carefully and see if you can find ANYTHING of substances from Congressman Pete Sessions or Senator John Cornyn  - both from Texas.

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This type of rhetoric has been a while of in coming. Recently the republicans have been beating their chests and stamping their feet about the federal deficit.  It’s a fascinating site to see when they spent eight years claiming that deficits don’t matter.  This claim, in response to the  billions in tax cuts that were given to the richest 5% of the population back in the golden day when our country actually enjoyed surpluses.   It’s hard to imagine that less than 10 years ago our country enjoyed an embarrassment of riches from an irresponsible Administration - run by - (gasp!) DEMOCRATS…

Well the republicans decided that this meant everyone was OVER-paying and they took care of that! The wealthiest in the nation didn’t take their largesse and let it trickle down to the worker bees.  They took the money and ran - laughing all the way to the bank.  This left the country deep in debt while in the midst of two wars - none of which needed to be paid for - because - well - deficits don’t matter. So the irony of the situation is that the deficit hawks turned into maniacal spend-thrifts just when the nation should have been saving for a rainy day.

The crisis of 2008 showed just how short-sighted this policy was.  It also ushered in the Obama era and now the spend-thrifts have gotten religion and are trying to squeeze a weak economy over yet another cliff.  They are playing a dangerous game.  Let us pray they don’t succeed.

It was interesting to see Chris Matthews response to this class act in evasive maneuvers.

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© 2010 - Ruthmarie G. Hicks - http://www.AmericasBrokenBraintrust.com

Every two years we have an  election cycle in Washington - and every two years its the same-old, same-old. The constitution dictates that members of the house must stand for re-election every two years. So the 2010 house races involve all 435 seats.  Even In the United States Senate where the turnover is far from 100% - 37 seats are up for election and the majority in the Senate may hang in the balance.   Certainly the 2010 House of Representatives election cycle is bringing out the very worst that our nation’s politics has to dish out.

One of the most confusing issues to the public is the way each party points fingers and indulges in the “blame game.”  The Bush adminstration were masters at blaming Clinton for things that happened nearly eight years after Bush had taken office. After blaming Clinton for everything from the terrorist attack of 9/11 and most notably the financial melt-down of 2008 - which happened nearly 8 years after Clinton left office - I find it amazing to see them feigning innocence and taking no responsibility for the deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The crisis that pushed us into this hole actually happened on Bush’s watch.

So expect no relief in the months ahead. Clarity of thought in politics is a contradiction in terms. By the time the election finally rolls around, if you aren’t totally confused - - then you are probably only listening to one side of the story a la MSNBC or FOX news.  The ability to get a sense of equilibrium and reality requires a requisite loyalty to one “news” channel  - and I use the word “news” loosely.  Most of today’s news is a cacoffiny of numerous one-sided versions of the same topic - with no common ground between any of them.

This is why I love Jon Stewart  Comedy Central - On TheDailyShow -  Jon can take the gloves off and call a spade a spade and do it with grace and humor.  This was aired  a little over two weeks ago, but it doesn’t get dated.

©2010 - Ruthmarie G. Hicks - AmericasBrokenBraintrust.com - All rights reserved.

In an earlier post I mentioned issues impacting the middle class specifically.  Although this would appear to have little to do with the American brain trust and its loss.  But the demise of the middle class is inextricably linked to the demise of the middle class.  After all, scientists and engineers have never been in the forefront of high wage earners.

Yes, there are people for whom money isn’t everything. I know that sound virutally amazing in these times where the bottom line seems to rule all - but its true. People have entered these fields knowing that for the most part, they would be employees earning an upper middle class salary after many years of paying dues in the form of higher education and climbing the ladder.  This was the trade-off for having a career that was very fulfilling and satisfying.

So when America started betraying the middle class - it betrayed the core population of scientists and engineers that lived their lives in an ivory tower by day  - where they worked - and emerged as  normal middle class working people by night.

What we are seeing is not  a diminished interest in science, math and engineering, but we are seeing a decay of viable careers at all levels.  As this decay continues, college bound students and new college grads all rush for the few fields left that are lucrative enough to promote a moderate degree of financial security.

Take Law School for example:  for years it was a golden ticket to almost instant guaranteed wealth.  When I was an undergrad - the trend away from medicine and science was judy beginning.  Many students started turning their sights towards law school or top of the line MBA programs.  They started turning their backs on medical school let alone a Ph.D.   The issue was not interest but in a world of tattered safety nets financial SECURITY becomes an ever more elusive goal.

Now the bloom is off the rose even for law school.  A recent article in the New York Times points out that the “golden ticket” to the good life is no more. Yet another viable career opportunity bites the dust.
But what creates this rush towards jobs that offer security over satisfaction?  Elizabeth Warren outlines why the middle class is in trouble and just how serious the situation is for the vast majority of Americans.  The video is LONG - but for those with the patience to stick it out - I think (unintentionally) it sheds a great deal of light on why Americans are shunning careers that don’t earn them the big bucks.

In general I have a great deal of respect for Thomas Friedman. But on the issues of globalization and the fate of technology in this country, he always, always, always misses the mark by a good mile or more. In today’s op-ed in the New York Times, Advice From Grandma, I held out some hope that he might get it right - but nope, he did it again.

In truth, most of the article was about how American government had become paralized by poor governance. And how the lack of vibrant government was stifling imagination and creativity  - our single best asset.  Nurting said creativity leads to innovation and innovation can bring us back to life. CHECK!  I agree completely.

Friedman goes on to say  “What I increasingly fear today is that America is only able to produce “suboptimal” responses to its biggest problems — education, debt, financial regulation, health care, energy and environment.” CHECK!

He sights money in politics, gerrymandering, cable TV, the internet (both of which foster extreme views) and a business community which forms a powerful lobby that works only for its own ends.  CHECK AGAIN!

Friedman was on a roll. But what he doesn’t address is what NEEDS to happen. Although he is correct in saying that Americans need to be willing to “sacrifice” that’s a tough sell for a middle class that has been pummelled by a free market cowboy mentality that has stripped them of health care,  job security, income, and any real source of firm footing with respect to their finances for the forseeable future.

What Friedman needed to do was “connect the dots.”  What is needed from government now is REAL opportunities for the creative.  You see Friedman was wrong to suggest that  creativity and innovation can not be  commoditized.  They have been - by corporate powers, and the higher ups in accademia that insisted we needed MORE foreign nationals working as engineers and scientists in this country.  To those entities that insisted globalization of such high-earning fields in science and engineering could be off-shored with no ill effects.   The cheapening of the higher education in these critical areas has commoditized the innovaters to nothingness.  Congratulations America! By listening to those vested interests  - you have created a race to the bottom for our most talented thinkers.  Today, biomedical labs are nothing more than high-tech sweat-shops where the best and brightest toil 70 hours a week for less than minimu wage.

My life started down one path and ended up willy-nilly someplace else.  I saw the writing on the wall during the last two years of my doctoral training.  The opportunities that were available when I entered the Ph.D. pipeline in 1998 were no longer available.  We had a glut of scienteists, most of them  not American born,  coming out of the pipeline as newly minted Ph.D.’s just as I was about to get my own sheepskin.   I knew I couldn’t survive on 10 years of post-docing at under $40k a year - so I was in quite a jam. That was all I was trained for - and that training had extended 7. 5 long years.  Getting a job in another venue wasn’t going to be easy.

The result…apart from teaching as an adjunct, I haven’t held a pipet or run a PCR in nearly five years. I haven’t “thought” science in a long, long time.  Ideas for projects and experiments have run fallow. My innovative mind has turned its talents to marketing plans that will increase the flow of clients in my real estate practice.  This is a far cry from what I intended.  I have made it work for me but few would argue that I would be making a better contribution to our society as a scientist.  There was on tiny problem with that though.   I never considered taking a Ph.D. to be a vow of poverty.  I wasn’t looking for vast wealth - but a decent living after all those years of train is a “must.” This is particularly true in what we have become - an “ownership” society.

Programs that encourage the growth of Americans in science, engineering and technology need to recognize some basic facts. The training is long and arduous.  It delays the potential of a decent salary until the candidate is well into their thirties or even their forties.  Therefore - the jobs and the money had better be there or these newly minted scientists and engineers are up the creek without a paddle.   If these things do not happen,  it becomes a no-can-do scenario for all but the independently wealthy and the foreign nationals that haven’t returned home (a reverse brain drain.)

President Obama hosted astronomy night at the White House on Wednesday encouraging students with a “passion” for science and engineering to follow their dreams.  Although I admire Obama’s attempt at trying to put a finger in the dike of the American science brain drain, it is an empty effort if compensation issue is not addressed in a substantive way.  Telling these bright-eyed young people to follow their dreams is recipe for financial disaster given the system of exploitation that currently dominates the landscape.

My former field required an enormous input of time as both a student and post-doc.  By the time the average biomedical scientist was ready for a “real job” we are often in our late 30s or even into our 40s.  The “jobs” that we are often offerd after such an extensive education have salaries that are nothing short of pitiful.  Pragmatism caused me to sell out on my passion.  I didn’t want to wake up one morning old, poor, bitter and unable to see a doctor and take advantage of treatments that I helped to create.

The brain drain is caused by a compensation drain.  This drain is perpetuated by the “in-sourcing” of graduate students and post-docs from third world nations.  Don’t get me wrong. They have been my friends and colleagues.  BUT - they are also being exploited and their presence allows American scientists to also be exploited. After such an extensive education  - it is not unreasonable to expect something resembling a living wage.  Unless Mr. Obama addresses this burning need to live above the poverty level - science will continue to languish in this country.

Scientists and engineers need more then empty speeches - they need enough money in their pockets to make a living, own a home, raise their families and prepare for retirement.

Further Reading:

Postdocs at Brookhaven: Establishing a Living Wage.

5000 postdocs choose UAW.

Much has been written in recent years about the appalling lack of academic excellence in our society.  Thomas Friedman has written extensively on this issue complaining mournfully about the lack of interest the youth of America display toward fields such as science and engineering.  The few remaining Americans who choose this pathway are part of the American braintrust. The knowledge and skills they acquire allow America to remain on the cutting edge.  A critical mass of such talent is needed to fuel progress, innovate and create the products, solutions and medical treatments of tomorrow. Without  this core of individuals, there is nothing to propel us forward.  Businesses will stagnate for want of new products.  Solutions to our energy problems, global warming and the like will go unsolved.

At one time, I was a small part of that braintrust.  I was a scientist.  I have two master’s degrees, one in molecular and cellular biology and another in microbiology and immunology along with a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology.     I worked as a research assistant, lab manager and doctoral candidate in this field for some 15 years before throwing in the towel and “selling out” to run my own business.

Why the “sell out”?  Why leave after such a major investment of time and education?  Why leave such stimulating and interesting work for the for the world of business.  It was, after all, a wrenching transition.   The answer  to this question is quite basic. The reason I left was  “money” or lack of same. Although I still work as an adjunct professor, my primary income comes from a licensing course that took 45 hours to obtain.  Don’t get me wrong. Selling real estate is far from “easy” and most of the training is through the school of hard knocks.  In fact over 90% of agents drop out because it is so tough.  But that’s not the point.  The point is one of value.  Why is a broker/agent potentially worth so much more than a than a Ph.D. with unique skills?

These answers are neither simple nor easy.   The end result is that many if not most who are part of the braintrust find that though they are among the “best and brightest” they must make do with a life below the poverty line.  Small wonder that these fields pale in comparison to the lure or Wall Street, banking and business. How we came to such an impasse is somewhat mysterious - although I think a good part of the problem has its roots in the  supply-side, trickle down economic policies that neoconservatives tout.  Certainly there are many contributing factors.

What to do about it is of paramount importance. This is particularly true when our entire economy is dependent on new R&D to keep chugging along.  At the end of the day - it is the innovators that drive investor’s portfolio values ever higher. So America needs to solve its braintrust issue if it doesn’t want to become a third world nation.

© 2009 Ruthmarie G. Hicks - America’s Broken Braintrust

Talk about riling me up! Bob Herbert wrote an op-ed piece Peering into the future,  in today’s New York Times that made my blood boil.  Normally, I have a great deal of respect for Bob Herbert, but his editorial about Bill Gates was just over the top.

Bill and Melinda Gates made a surprise appearance in an algebra class at West Charlotte High School, Charlotte, NC.  Apparently the Gate’s have been traveling around the country going to public schools in order to see what has “gone wrong” and what is working in the public schools.  As to the former, they could easily have looked closer to home for the answers.

To his credit, Mr. Gates recognizes the problem, “Our performance at every level — primary and secondary school achievement, high school graduation, college entry, college completion — is dropping against the rest of the world.”  However, Mr. Gates is an ironic figure to be promoting the benefits of completing college and the value of a formal education.

Bill Gates himself dropped out of college in order to start Microsoft.  He is not a scientist, engineer, nor is he a computer programmer.  He is a business man - plain and simple.   Granted he had a great deal of vision and drive,  but his very success sans college degree makes  this a very hard sell to the would-be millionaires hoping for a slice of the American dream.  The message of his life story and the employment practices of his company  are “quit school, make money. Stay in school, be a sucker.”

For the past 30 years college and graduate students have been spurning careers in science, engineering, math and computer programming in favor of business and banking.  Many pundits lapse into the lazy logic that these subjects are “hard” and therefore less desirable.  If it is reasonably easy to create wealth on Wall Street - why undergo the years of effort and education to become a Ph.D. or engineer.  This has always been true to one extent or another.  But why has the trend accelerated at such an alarming rate?  How did we get ourselves into such a sorry state?

The irony of the Gates’ visit to public schools is that Microsoft has been part of the problem.  Gates has appeared before Congress insisting that they up the number of H1-B visas granted because these fine minds were “needed” to keep the US economy strong.  Nonesense.  H1-B’s ulimately drain the American braintrust by squashing salaries and consigning entire swaths of academia to foreign nationals.  That might boost the bottom line for the likes of Microsoft and Imclone.  It is quick fix, and it works!  The  trouble is that cuts Americans out of the action and also does not account for the consequences that only come due when these foreign nationals decide to go home. Microsoft has also been involved in significant amounts of outsourcing high-tech jobs to India .  This has led to job losses for people with just the skill set that Bill Gates is promoting in the schools.

What’s wrong with this picture?

On the surface, this would appear to have little to do with a brain drain issue.  It in truth, it is more of a symptom than a cause.   But symptoms have consequences.

At the outset, I must say that the whole scene was horrifying.  Strangely, I did not find the outburst from Wilson, as distasteful as unnerving as the general booing and moaning that came from the republican side as a whole.  That large a response had to be orchestrated. The fact that a fairly substantial group of republicans thought that booing was somehow appropriate for a presidential speech before a joint session of Congress is unprecedented.   It implies a pervasive  lack of respect for the President, and the office of the presidency.  Make no mistake, this is something new and very disturbing.   I have watched many a joint session of Congress and I have never seen cat calls and booing before.

Perhaps it is  not too surprising that the very contingents who trashed the economy, dragged us into a pointless war, encouraged torture,  and destroyed the middle class, now see fit to throw respect for our Commander in Chief into the toilet with everything else they  managed to destroy.

Of course there are racial undertones in all of this.  That part is evident as there is a pervasive “red-neck” population that insists a  Civil War victory for the confederates is still up for grabs.  I think Maureen Dowd said it best in her New York Times Op-Ed “Boy, Oh Boy”.

When I was growing up, this red-neck contingency - though present, had been marginalized.  Their impact on the country effectively neutralized.  That all changed when business formed an unholy alliance with the religious-right.  The process was outlined so well in Thomas Frank’s 2004 book What’s the Matter with Kansas? Shows how money from the conservative wing of the republican party gave this small but “loud” group of individuals a megaphone that has somehow managed to dumb down an entire nation.  When we appeal to the lowest common denominator - we can expect little more than a  jungle mentality.  “I’ve got mine, so f**k you!”  It is a society ruled by fear while the bottom 95% scramble for every crumb of security they can get.  The more erudite among us call it “social darwinism.”  By whatever name you call it - it has grave consequences for our society and standing in the world.

Ok, I couldn’t help the sarcasm in the title.  But after all the hysterics about “indoctrination” that the far-right had about the Obama “back-to-school” speech, there was little, if anything controversial about it.  Who could possibly disagree with the notion that staying in school and working hard are good things?  Hopefully no one.  Who could argue that all that hard work will pay off in the end?   Well…I could.

Lest this sound like a radical diatribe against “elitist” America, please let me clarify.  I actually am a Ph.D. with a higher degrees in molecular biology, genetics, microbiology and immunology.  I’ve taught at the undergraduate level and have my name on several publications.  I certainly don’t dispute that education and working hard are “good things.”  What I have a problem with is the mistaken notion that the hard work, money and time spent on an education will pay off in the end.  I would answer that question with the modifiers such as “maybe” “hopefully”  and “possibly.”  Note that I omit “probably” and “likely.”

You see, drawing such sweeping conclusions about how “education” always pays off is an exercise in hubris for the academic.  Tell that to the unemployed IT specialists, the computer programers that were laid off through out-sourcing.  Tell that to the scientist at the bench who with their Ph.D. is laboring 70 hours per week for about $30k in compensation.  In the current world - education doesn’t always “pay.”  In fact it can be a huge liability in terms of time spent out of the work force and accrued debt.   There are far too many well -educated and very dedicated Ph.D.’s out there working odd jobs and serving people at restaurants for this to be true.

The problem with Obama’s speech is that it was built on a premise that died with advent of the “trickle down” economics in the Reagan era.   In such a world he who holds the gold, makes the rules.  The result is that precious little “trickles down” to the creative and inventive among us.  Most of it stays in the board room with the CEO.

Of course this drives us right into the heart of the trickle-down mess.  The final result has been a rising gap between rich and poor with a small group of middle class dangling off the side of a cliff.  The abyss is unrelenting poverty.  Make no mistake: if things don’t change then MOST Americans are headed off the cliff.

People are not that complicated.   They are operating out of a need for self-preservation. The best and brightest can do many things.  What they are choosing to do is a direct reflection of this income gap.  If a scientist is making less than $40k after 8 years of post-graduate training while a MBA is offering $250k a year after two years of training - where do you think the talent will go?

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