Theodp writes "Name an crowd that can produce 1 million new, high-paying jobs over the next three years, challenges BusinessWeek. You can't, because there isn't one. And that's the problem. So what's the answer? Basic quest can repair the broken US trade model, argues BW, saying it's the key to new, high-quality job creation. Scientific underpinning legends like Bell Labs, Sarnoff Corp, and Xerox PARC are fundamentally gone, or shadows of their former selves. And while IBM, Microsoft, and HP collectively spend $17B a year on R&D, only 3%-5% of that is for basic science. In a post-9/11 world, DARPA's mission has shifted from science to tactical projects with short-term soldierly applications. Cutting back on plunge in basic science fishing expedition* may make great sense in the short term, but as corporations and patronage make the same decision to free-ride off the investments of others, society suffers the 'tragedy of the commons,' wherein various actors operating costs expenses budget in their self-interest do harm to the overall public good. We've reached that point, says BW, and we're just beginning to see the consequences. The cycle needs to be reversed, and it needs to be done quickly."

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