Bye-Bye Brain Drain, Bye-Bye technological leadership.

[AzNick]

The trend started during and around WWII, with such great names as Herbert Von Braun and Albert Einstein and it has helped the United States lead the world in the domain of technologies.

Imagine a United States which would have lost the cold war, never put a man on the moon (his name would have been Neil, but Igor, Sergei or Boris), never would have led the way into the silicon age.

What would the Silicon Valley be like with only half of its engineers? Would there have even been a NASA and a JPL?

I am a software engineer myself and out of the 14 of use in my division, 6 are foreign born: 1 Frenchman (me), 1 Indian, 3 Russians and 1 Canadian. It's not that we are cheap and slave-like: we are paid just the same! It's just that this country does not train enough engineers (or should I say GOOD engineers -but that is another debate).

As the fight for healthcare reform in the US is now international news, foreign engineering and science majors who would be likely to migrate to the United States are now realizing that this country has a sub-par healthcare system and make think twice about doing it.

Without the Brain Drain, this country will lose its technological leadership, plain and simple.

But you know it as well as I do: the Republicans will tell you "Good, less immigrants!".

Except that we, the trained foreign workers come to the US with our knowledge, enthusiast and drive, as well as our belief in the American Dream and that we are also part of it.

We are the "fresh blood" and we contribute in making this country unique.