Hey everybody!!! Look US up in a few years and we'll have the stuff you just can't do without!!!

No more Korean batteries for American hybrids!!! No more solar panels from, you know, those Japanese. China? We all know everything they make is , well, inferior.

'America, America, God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea'

From the Democratic National Convention; sung by M McDonald... most stunningly, too

Hardly anyone would argue that higher education in America is hugely expensive.

The interior walls of the Russian Cultural Center in Chennai (India) are covered with framed, glossy, black and white photographs of present Russian (Putin) royalty. In the foyer are bulletin boards flush with flyers inviting young Indians to consider applying to Russian universities for advanced study. Fees are posted in large print as an incentive for young Indians to chose the Russian option should they feel so inclined as to study abroad.

And yet, most Indians (who can afford it) choose American universities over the Russian ones. And if they should ultimately decide to take up Russia’s offer, they are more likely to cut their studies short and return home early. (Racism currently runs rampant in Russia.) Indians have been conditioned to believe that the American model overall is much more attractive. It is seen as representing the height of cutting edge innovation in every accredited academic field. Culturally too, America is seen as holding the lead. Russia, on the other hand, is generally considered as being decidedly second or even third rate. As one young Indian told me recently, “If Russia were my only option for studying abroad, I might as well stay home.”

Paradoxically, once these Indians actually enroll in American universities, they are bombarded with the very ideology that has shaped their perception of the communist block. When they then return home once again, they will have had a good education in Marxism. They will have learned that each American excess deprives someone (possibly even someone in their own country) of a meal. And thus, they will come to see America as the very vortex of evil in the world. The mantra they will return with is that ‘America has 5% of the world’s population while, at the same time, consuming roughly 25% of the world’s energy’. This makes America criminally liable of the rape of the planet’s resources. A second tier of blame has recently come into vogue with all the attention given to (the hoax of) “global warming”.

The clarion call has gone out for America to stop its criminal practices. The accusations have been persistent and leveled from all corners of the globe. And America feels defensive and, aided by the shame of clear fiscal malfeasance on the part of its political class, scales back.

That’s where we now find ourselves. Americans have become frugal. They no longer buy all the stuff they used to. Now the nations of the world are scratching their heads and wondering why their own economies are tanking. Using the car as a metaphor, America can be seen as the engine. Other countries are the windshield wiper motor, the door lock/unlock mechanism, the trunk release, etc. – all of which do not work if the engine refuses to start.

Now we find ourselves in the odd position of where both the Russians and the Chinese are lecturing us simultaneously on the virtues of capitalism.

Peter, The Indians are coming to America for the hard sciences not for a liberal Arts education. Recall that when Bollinger invited Ahmindinjad to Columbia, many of the hard sciece professors signed a letter of protest.

Obama has to promise free higher education since he has decided to cap executive pay. Why pay so much for college if your earnings potential has been capped. Then it begs the question of what happens to all the current studnt loans that are outstanding. That is another of the moral hazards that Rick Santelli & Co. can rail about when the education plan will be rolled out.

Hey at leaset the Indians know how to launch satelittes. The NASA satelitte to measure CO2 emissions never left orbit. Maybe we will have to suffice with the Japanese satelitte's data, although their scientists are a little more skeptical about global warming. As per John Tierney this is one area in which some scientists have let policy trump science and discovery.

Since we are speaking of the Jindal comet and science, it is interesting that some pundits have dismissed him as a candidate for higher office due to his creationist beliefs.