If our best and brightest weren't drawn to parasitic jobs like investment banking or computer geek jobs like google and microsoft, would the U.S. have a more dynamic economy with better products? For example a dishwasher that cleans in 45 seconds

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• do you really think that Microsoft 7 Op. System or the latest Google trick to send adverts to your computer screen is valuable? Our real innovation stopped some time in the 70s. At the rate we were going, we would have been to Mars, and our homes would be full of REAL and VALUABLE inventions, not stupid computer upgrades that do nothing of real value. But no, our smartest go work at Goldman Sachs, not NASA. Our best work at Google, they dont go to medical school or cure cancer. That doesn't pay enough i guess.

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  by Krumple on November 21st, 2009

• Perhaps, but don't allow yourself to believe that the only products that exist are the ones you hear about on the news. I find google maps one of the most useful software resources available, and NASA has been doing some pretty amazing stuff lately. I browse their site at least weekly. Could we have done better? Maybe...but I'm not so sure giving a gifted software engineer a position in a biotech company will produce anything more than a blank stare. I think people are gifted in certain areas.

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  by Stepper on November 21st, 2009

• An interesting thought though. I've never really thought about this.

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  by Stepper on November 21st, 2009

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• 90% of Goldman Sachs' "profits" were due to their trading their own money. Therefore, it did nothing to benefit anyone but themselves, and most importantly, someone had to LOSE money for them to profit from trading securities. Stock trading is a zero sum game, unlike investing in companies and investing in the economy, which is of course good.
  Gas mileage SUFFERED over the last 3 decades, except for japanese cars. I am talking about American technology and innovation and jobs though, not japanese. Japan does not have a "silicon valley" and neither does Germany. And these two countries are net EXPORTERS and have huge trade surpluses. It's no accident. Our banking and computer geeks have gutted our industries, not helped them.

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  by Krumple on November 21st, 2009

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