Brains aren't brains, unfortunately. Brains are in short supply. Thats why we own all the good Indian brains. We ship them here in little boxes, called F1 and O1 visas and provide them a nice house, and a tiny car to drive to Ralph's. We pay them less than the native brains. Later we get them green cards and let their spouses and come work at 7-11 and their kids win the spelling bees. Sounds harsh and racist? Well it's the real world, sorry that's how it works, don't like it anymore than you do.
We also own all the basic research in the world at our fine universities. Bought and payed for with tax money and nih grants. Then all the good stuff gets funded by big pharma.
The germans, and brits, and japanese own a good supply of brains too. And they can afford the mega bucks it costs to develop drugs and sell them to people who have money. EU, Japan, and USA. Voila, real competition.
As far as my overpaid R&D job(that doesn't exist) sorry, that's just how it works. If I'm in the top 5-10% in the world in terms of R&D ability in a field, I get to pick and choose where I go to work. And, sorry to say it, but the US is the place, because I won't go work in India, unless they gimme a house and sports car, and maybe a harem full of women. That's why the commodity work for Intel gets shipped out, but the super duper high tech fancy schmancy stuff stays at the high rent places in South San Francisco.
I don't think there is much "commodity" research in pharma, but eventually, it may show up. Remember the FDA? They set the rules, so it's not so easy to just ship a key peice of research to a place where the regulations aren't quite up to snuff. Also, unlike tech, pharmaceuticals are needed ubiquitously. There are so many fields of pharmaceuticals that one has to study years, just to figure out a single disease. So again, the problem is different. Further, after you find a blockbuster drug, it still isn't good enough. You only cure 50-60%, theres another 40% you left out in the cold. They need some love too. Not saying it won't happen, but it's a different game altogether.
The fact is, as much as we don't like it, the US gets screwed everytime we do business abroad. The only way to stay competitive is to keep bringing innovation forward. The third world is perfectly happy taxing the crap out of our technology and too lazy to develop it themselves. When they do, guess what? They'll have to pay as much as we do for that innovation, because that's what it costs in real value. |
