They said it forty years ago as well. But things have changed.
A) Public education is falling apart and under attack.
B) Companies have cut back on R&D and basic research of the type that used to be done by Bell Labs.
C) There is the general idea in the air that science is in conflict with religion.
D)And the most controversial reason. It doesn't matter whether ID is right, wrong or indifferent. The debate is fairly meaningless. However, the debate serves to taint not only American scientists, but also school districts. Do you think those schools that teach ID will be able to attract quality science teachers? Don't you think that top universities who see good performing students apply from those schools will be prejudiced against them, just a little?
I promise you -- the ID debate and denigration of scientists is not going on in China, India or any of the other countries where science is increasingly prized. They send their top students to our top universities where they apply their noses to the grindstone and then return to work for companies in those countries.
There are forces working the other way too...
1. Lots of the brilliant overseas science students like it here and stay.
2. Venture capital is the new R&D
3. Biotech has become enourmously profitable
4. Darpa is a major force for research
5. The universties are very strong... just one floor of the artificial intelligence lab at MIT has produced more tech comanies than many entire countries.
Not that you don't have a point .. I remember a conference in Orlando 20 years ago when I went with a guy from MIT when we were working on a proposal for less than $100,000 for laying biological components on silicone - we met our Japanese counterpart - he $3 million in funding and a dedicated lab.
I asked one simple question (have you tried a more electronegative ion) in his presentation and three guys jumped up with cameras and took my picture and then two of them left the room. We skipped the rest of the conference, went to Disney World and went back home and found something else to work on.