Time to learn Mandarin?

Maybe not quite yet, but from the looks of things, it may be soon - very soon - to learn the tongue of your new boss.

It has often been said that the 21st century would be China's century. I'd suspected as much, but always hoped it would be the latter half of the 21st century. You know, after I'm dead, or too senile to care.

Then comes this disconcerting news as reported in the New York Times (and again, why isn't this an in-depth series of articles in the Wall Street Journal as it would have been in pre-Douchebag* days?): China Drawing High-Tech Research from the US.

Mr. Mark Pinto, chief technology officer of Applied Materials is moving himself and his family to Beijing. Applied Materials, one of Silicon Valley's oldest and most prestigious firms, makers of equipment that in turn makes semiconductor chips, solar panels, and flat panel displays, is building its newest and largest research labs in, where? California? Kentucky? Florida? Texas? nope, nope, nope, and nope, try China.

They are not alone. "Companies — and their engineers — are being drawn here more and more as China develops a high-tech economy that increasingly competes directly with the United States".

Says Mr. Pinto “We’re obviously not giving up on the U.S. China needs more electricity. It’s as simple as that.” Ah, simple. OK. More electricity. So we need to move all knowledge and innovation overseas, since we've already moved most of our jobs there. It's simply more convenient for private enterprise to keep costs down. And the savings are passed on to YOU! Better for them. Better for you. See? Simple.

I really can't fault Mr. Pinto or call him traitor or anything like that. He's making a smart move. It's the free enterprise way, right? Private enterprise, free market, and all that.

Keep in mind, despite all the huge efforts on the part of our obviously socialist and individual-freedom-crushing Big Government to desperately fund high tech research through such communist programs such as DARPA, the Energy Departments ARPA-E program, the Department of Educations efforts to encourage young students to go into engineering and science disciplines, the push to improve our power and data infrastructure, alternative energy solutions, that's just not the right thing to do.

We should bow to the inevitable. And the private sector is pointing the way. When it comes to high tech industries, to clean green energy solutions, to anything that smells of progress, all those trillions of dollars in profit that could be made, why American companies are just not interested in it.

*Move over Rush Limbaugh, since you're obviously just a muppet with someone's hand up your ass. Rupert Murdoch is the new Douchebag with a capital D.