Posted on 01/17/2007 6:05:17 AM PST by FLOutdoorsman
Throughout history, national security has been dependent on economic prosperity, and visa versa. An economically strong America is better able to defend itself. Likewise, the nation's ability to defend itself is a prerequisite to maintaining the infrastructure and other elements of a strong national economy.
Unfortunately, the nation has forgotten one of the most important ways our economic prosperity and national security are linked — investment in fundamental scientific research. Investments made in fundamental scientific research after World War II and during the Cold War have been essential to making our fighting men and women today the best equipped in the world. These previous investments and the new knowledge they generated also made enormous contributions to our economic vitality.
But our commitment to that defense-oriented fundamental research — the kind of research that pays off not in a year or two but in the long run, sometimes decades in the future — has eroded. If we do not renew this commitment, it will harm our global economic competitiveness as well as the effectiveness and safety of our troops.
The extraordinary technologies upon which today's military equipment is based come from an extraordinary research and development enterprise. The foundation of that enterprise is the basic scientific research funded by the Department of Defense. Unfortunately, the national commitment to investing in basic defense research has waned in recent years, with funding levels essentially flat for several years and the overall percentage of the Pentagon budget devoted to such research significantly less than it was in the 1980s.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Strengh of economy and strengh of US defense are inextricably linked and vice versa.
Darn! I thought this was a hot stock tip. ;o)
bfl
Huh? Newt, you want us to volunteer more taxes?
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