PhD is a long path and those who were preparing for it looking to graduate now largely began when Bush was still around.
Leave it to the liberal Atlantic to miss this salient point and thus miss the connection to the intentional Obama downturn.
FReegards!
This is likely true. Ironically, most PhDs in academics still think reflexively that a Democrat in office means better funding for science. That's just ridiculous. Obama has no respect for the sacrifices people have to make with their lives to become PhDs, MDs, engineers, etc. etc. To him, you didn't build that, and don't deserve one dime more (or even as much as) one of the union members who vote for him.
We have been a military strength in the world in part because we have superior technology and we have been an economic powerhouse. We are going to fall behind in technology if we don't make it worth people's while to study science and engineering. We are already losing our superior economic stature. You can't run a nation when you take away from it's citizens incentives for working hard and achieving.
I also agree with the statements about H1Bs. I think it is great that we recruit really good people from abroad, but I think the percentage of US taxpayer dollars that can be spent on training / hiring foreign students and post-docs should be strictly limited. It should not be the case that 80% or more of the post-docs in a lab funded by US taxpayer dollars are non-American.