Washington:
The investment in the field of research and development would determine America's competitiveness with India, China and Germany, US President Barack Obama, has said as he once again raised the rhetoric with fast approaching mid-term elections in the month of November.
"We have made the largest investment in research and development, in basic research and science, in our history, because that's going to determine whether we can compete with China and India and Germany over the long term. Are we inventing stuff here that we can then export overseas?" Obama said in his remarks in a local neighbourhood discussion on the economy in Fairfax, Virginia.
"We're making investments in our infrastructure, because we can't have a second-class infrastructure and expect to have a first-class economy. Just an interesting statistic over the last decade: China spends about nine per cent of its gross domestic product on infrastructure. Europe spends about five per cent. We've been spending two per cent," Obama said.
"And that's part of the reason why we no longer have the best airports, we no longer have the best rail systems, we don't have the best broadband service. South Korea has better broadband service and wireless service than we do. And over time, that adds up. It makes us less competitive. So what we've said is we've got to make investments in infrastructure," Obama said.
A generation ago, Obama said the US had the highest proportion of college graduates of any country in the world.
"We now rank 11th or 12th in the proportion of college graduates. Well, we can't win in an information society, in a global, technologically wired economy, unless we're winning that battle to make sure our kids can compete," he argued.
"So what we've said is we're going to put more money into higher education and through K-12 -- but here's the catch -- the money is only going to those communities that are serious about reforming their education system so they work well. Because it's -- education is not just a matter of putting more money into it," he said.
"You also have to make sure that we've got the best teachers, that we've got accountability, that the way we're designing our schools help our kids actually succeed over the long term, especially in areas of math and science, where we're lagging even further behind than we were a generation ago," Obama said.