Competition with India will be fierce: Obama

“You’ve got a billion people in India who are suddenly plugged into the world economy. You’ve got over a billion people in China who are suddenly plugged into the global economy,” Obama said in his remarks at a community college in Winston-Salem,North Carolina.

“That means competition is going to be much more fierce and the winners of this competition will be the countries that have the most educated workers,a serious commitment to research and technology,and access to quality infrastructure like roads and airports and high-speed rail and high-speed Internet,” he said.

“Those are the seeds of economic growth in the 21st century. Where they are planted,the most jobs and businesses will take root,” Obama said.

The US president said in the last few decades,revolutions in communications,revolutions in technology have made businesses mobile and has made commerce global.

“So today,a company can set up shop,hire workers,and sell their products wherever there’s an internet connection. That’s a transformation that’s touched off a fierce competition among nations for the jobs and industries of the future,” he added.

Obama said in the last century,America was that place where innovation happened and jobs and industry always took root. The business of America was business.

“Our economic leadership in the world went unmatched. Now it’s up to us to make sure that we maintain that leadership in this century. And at this moment,the most important contest we face is not between Democrats and Republicans.

“It’s between America and our economic competitors all around the world. That’s the competition we’ve got to spend time thinking about,” he argued.

“Now,I have no doubt we can win this competition. We are the home of the world’s best universities,the best research facilities,the most brilliant scientists,the brightest minds,some of the hardest-working,most entrepreneurial people on Earth — right here in America. It’s in our DNA,” he said.

“Think about it. People came from all over the world to live here in the United States. That’s been our history. And those were the go-getters,the risk-takers who came here. The folks who didn’t want to take risks,they stayed back home. Right? So there’s no doubt that we are well equipped to win,” Obama argued.

“But as it stands right now,the hard truth is this: In the race for the future,America is in danger of falling behind. That’s just the truth,” Obama said in his speech.

In a generation,the US has fallen from 1st place to 9th place in the proportion of young people with college degrees.

When it comes to high school graduation rates,the US ranked 18th out of 24 industrialised nations. Today the US is 27th in the proportion of science and engineering degrees we hand out.

“We lag behind other nations in the quality of our math and science education,” he said.

“When global firms were asked a few years back where they planned on building new research and development facilities,nearly 80 per cent said either China or India because those countries are focused on math and science,and they’re focused on training and educating their workforce,” Obama said.