There’s more to say about a story in this week’s issue, and I suspect readers will want to comment on it, so here’s the place to do it.
Opportunity, Knocking
The Trump Administration is waging an “assault on science,” says the British science journal, Nature, dumping top scientists in government-funded jobs from NASA to NOAA to the CDC. And that’s an opportunity for Europe. “We can suddenly recruit talent that we would not have been able to attract under normal circumstances,” says Patrick Cramer, President of Germany’s Max Planck Society. The scientific “brain drain” is, he says, “a great opportunity for Europe as a research location,” even though “for research as a whole, it is a clear step backwards.” The E.U. is working to create “a special passport” for scientists, and France’s Aix-Marseille University is actively recruiting American researchers after Philippe Baptiste, France’s Minister for Higher Education and Research, wrote to institutions urging them to recruit the fired American scientists, saying the government is “committed, and will rise to the occasion.” China, too, is hoping to attract talent to better compete against the U.S., and South Korea is easing visa restrictions to attract American scientists. (RC/Deutsche Welle, AFP) …MEGA: Making Europe Great Again.
Incomplete
When I sent the stories to the editors last night, I didn’t have a tagline for that story. It was late, I was tired, so I sent it and headed to bed around 10:30 — a little earlier than most Sunday nights.
Relaxing helps: as I settled into bed, a tag idea came to mind, so I grabbed my phone and sent it to myself: “…When the brains are drained, the most evident remainder is the bathtub ring of obliviots.”
When I woke up in the morning, I found my brain had still been pondering it, since the one I used (above, “…MEGA: Making Europe Great Again.”) came to mind.
That’s just one of the reasons I write on Sunday: I want there to be time for my subconscious to work on things. Yeah, sometimes the published tagline just doesn’t work, and other times the editors are probably surprised when they see the issue come out, and a story has a completely different tag than what was included when they did their reviews. Maybe some of you even like the first tag for the story better.
Brain Drain
Bottom line, I found the whole exercise thought-provoking, because I hadn’t yet thought about the obvious-in-hindsight unanticipated consequence of a brain drain. I should have: Putin invading Ukraine resulted in a big exodus of talented people who figured they would be sent into the meat grinder.
Back in 2006 I read and recommended Thomas L. Friedman’s book The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century [*]. It discusses how globalization and technological advancements have leveled the economic playing field, enabling people worldwide to collaborate and compete in the market, earning higher wages by (say) doing work for American companies. It’s been long enough that I don’t remember the details, but Friedman probably pointed out that it goes both ways.
If job prospects are bad for experts in the U.S., then certainly “flattening” makes it easier for those American experts to find work elsewhere, and of course savvy foreign countries will work to attract them. Their gain is our loss, and it will take generations to recover. Thus, not MAGA, but MEGA.
Exaggeration? I wrote that before an Associated Press story popped up in my feed. “At this rate, with the hiring freeze, there may be no Ph.D. students next year,” warned Emilya Ventriglia, president of the union representing around 5,000 researchers at NIH.
“We’re expecting this to play out for generations,” agrees Levin Kim, the president of the union for academics at the University of Washington. And, of course, to complete the tie-in: “Some American students are looking to institutions overseas,” AP says, giving some examples.
The story ends with Marleigh Hutchinson, who is about to graduate with a degree in environmental engineering. “I want to work on food security and water security issues,” she said, “and if that’s something that the United States is no longer going to value, then I would like to go somewhere else.”
I never thought I’d see something like this in my lifetime. Yes, we’ve needed some reform — intelligent reform, not chainsawing by an unrestrained mad billionaire’s henchmen.
An Update Already?
This story is from the 30 March edition:
Swirling
Yes, the U.S. is experiencing a “Brain Drain”. A survey of more than 1,200 scientists by the journal Nature found that 75.3 percent of American scientists are considering leaving the U.S. to work in other countries. “A lot of my mentors have been telling me to get out, right now,” said one. “I’ve been looking very diligently for opportunities in Europe, Australia and Mexico.” Another commented, “A lot of universities in these countries are seeing this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity. I think it has gone from ‘Can we recruit a few people?’ to ‘How many people can we actually take?’ — because the demand is there.” And it’s not just fired federal workers, or university researchers funded by federal grants, it’s also “folks who are just worried in general about the intimidation, fear and harassment that they are facing,” says Jennifer Jones, Director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Sure enough, other countries are quickly boosting their recruitment efforts, with the Netherlands’ Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Eppo Bruins, declaring that “top scientists are worth their weight in gold for our country and for Europe.” (RC/NPR, The Hill) …As Europe gets the gold, America gets the shaft.
I sure can’t blame Europe. Hell: we did it to them during and after World War II. It’s how we got to the moon, and made a lot of other giant leaps for mankind. We are now giving up a big advantage. “Their gain is our loss, and it will take generations to recover,” said a commentator somewhere.
Meanwhile, Americans as a whole greatly respect and trust scientists: a Pew Research Center survey published in November found:
- 76% of Americans express a great deal or fair amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public’s best interests — up from the year before.
- Majorities view research scientists as intelligent (89%) and focused on solving real-world problems (65%).
- but Communication is seen as an area of relative weakness for scientists.
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“Intelligent” reform: Therein lies the rub. There is no one in power who is intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, or sane. Congress, on both sides of the aisle, are too frightened to grow a spine and do something about the chaos in our beloved country. (There are two or three Congresspeople I’m exempting from my comment.)
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Two or three? Cool: I wasn’t sure there were that many. -rc
Stephen Colbert joked that after Al Green was muscled out of Trump’s speech, he was searched and found to have smuggled in a spine. Bernie and AOC have been speaking up and urging their party to fight so I guess that makes three in my book.
“There is no one in power who is intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, or sane.”
I disagree, but those who are intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, or sane, are too scared to speak out.
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Maybe they should get over their fears.
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Indeed I have seen many people pushing back very hard. -rc
I have seen several people on Reddit talking about moving to Canada or Europe and asking about the best ways to do that. Those who can get Visas will be leaving if they can not work in the US.
One of the problems that Germany faced during WWII was that with its Nazi ideology and (especially) its persecution of the Jews, many well-educated German scientists took their knowledge to England, Canada, and the US. The Allies benefitted immeasurably from this influx of talent. Talent that helped them defeat the Axis powers.
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And that benefit went on for generations after the war ended. -rc
The worst issue ever. Get over your TDS.
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First, you first upgraded to Premium in 2014, and presumably were on the free distribution for some time before that. I don’t recall you whining about my taking Obama to task (or hell, Clinton!)
Second, if you can provide factual points to rebut what’s in the issue, then by all means make the argument in a rational way. Snowflake whining doesn’t cut it: if you can’t be calm, rational, and factual, then you can’t be calm, rational, and factual.
Third, you remind me of this meme that was circulating in January.
-rc
Whining? The references I’ve found all seem to have the same syndrome in common. Let’s see: nature.com
Washington Post
New York Times
Deutsche Welle
No politics to be found among them.
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Again, your hit and run style of communications is ineffective at best. And again, the “syndrome” of which you speak isn’t what you think it is. -rc
Right, Richard S. C.
Nature is the leading — and most well reputed — scientific journal in the world (along with Science).
The three mentioned papers are among the most trusted in the world as well (except for the fact that WP now has been partially hamstrung by its billionaire owner).
So yeah, they do share a ‘syndrome’, and that is called seekers of truth.
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Yes, well, good repute, respect, etc. of science means nothing to these folks …while they use computers that depend on scientific research to work. -rc
You have used the genetic fallacy — a favorite resort of people who protect their opinions by not liking the name of a source in lieu of reading and learning something from it.
Why read at all?
“Exaggeration?” — obviously. And trying to support it with more exaggeration does not work, either. I cannot see that surmised projections “for the generations” based on a few weeks of rabid news reports can be considered anything but exaggeration. These stories with a few anecdotal reports do not even suggest a trend, a flight, or a brain drain.
There should be little disagreement that federal government is bloated and wasteful, and needs significant trimming. But there is too much TDS in media that they don’t remember themselves saying the same things. Now, it’s Trump destroying the country. with little regard to facts.
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First: now there’s some good arguing! Sure beats whining. Second, how many examples of “exaggeration” does it take before they’re no longer considered exaggeration? 100? 500? 10,000? But bottom line is, only time will tell which side was right. -rc
30 year federal employee here. Of course there’s waste — that’s true of any large organization. I’ve seen it.
But the way to find waste is not with a bomb, or with teenagers who have no idea of how the government works (Hint: It cannot work like a business!). The way to find waste is to send in auditors and accountants to examine processes. Oh, and maybe firing Inspectors General — the people who are tasked with finding problems — wasn’t the best idea.
DOGE exists only to break the government so it can be privatized and sold off to billionaires.
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I’ve seen significant waste in every private company I’ve worked for too. There’s no such thing as perfect efficiency in any human endeavor. -rc
“These stories with a few anecdotal reports do not even suggest a trend, a flight, or a brain drain.”
I don’t think you’ve been looking. I’ve had 6 friends and associates do post graduate work in the USA in the last couple of decades. ALL of them had parts of their work taken and used without credit by colleagues or supervisors.
So far funding for 10,000 of those positions is gone. That’s 5% in two months. About 30% of overseas PhD applications are gone. About a third of US university academic staff are foreign born. They’re not interested in waiting around to be arrested at random.
The NIH cannot fund new grants at the moment. That alone will affect research capabilities for at least 5 years.
Between the loss of and possible emigration of scientists and qualified researchers in pretty much every branch of science, plus the gutting of science agencies in the executive branch, plus the gutting and debasing of K-12 and college education, plus the selection of a Cabinet full of doofuses, Republicans are ensuring that it will take generations to get back to where we are. They don’t care: book-learnin’ frightens and annoys them—so much that they apparently have given up reading the Bible.
Could you cite some examples of “rabid” news reports in mainstream news sources?
Nobody here is disagreeing that there is some waste in the federal government, though it is not bloated, as the federal government’s share of the total U.S. workforce is about half of what it was in 1960, and its numbers have remained fairly steady since 2014. These figures are despite increases in the U.S. population—1960, 179.3M; 2014, 318.4M; 2024, 340.1M.
But Trump and Musk are wasting money by having unqualified people doing hatchet work instead of hiring forensic accountants to look for waste and fraud, by flip-flopping on policies, by idiotically firing strategic groups of people then having to try to hire them back, and expecting people to respond to supposed retirement deals that neither of them can wish into existence (and what employee smart enough to keep would make a deal with Donald Trump?)—indeed, DOGE is the biggest purveyor of waste, fraud and abuse in government.
[What’s the deal here with South Carolina?]
Finishing my doctorate in History of Religion fulfilled my soul needs but find a job in North America as a forty-something trailing my fellow baby boomers? Mission Impossible! While working for an internationa trade company I was in China & was asked to teach at Xiamen University, then in their top ten. I chose to accept, and had five years (later two more years in a northern university) of wonderful interaction with students eager to learn my version of the History of Western Civilization (borrowing heavily from Northrop Frye). Yes Randy, this is when I became a Premium fan!
In total seven years in Moscow followed, three at the Higher School of Economics which had become the best place in Russia for post-grad. Brain drain? More like when headwinds at home are too heavy and the Forces That Be uptilt our expectations, take the opportunity to fly one’s best trajectory wherever the jet stream gives the best tailwind.
I’m retired back in Canada now for a decade and glad to see the new PM, whom I’ve followed since 2007 while editing the financial page for The Moscow Times; I read his book ‘Values’ [*] the week it came out. As you are constantly reminding us, Randy, a growing brain uses heart and mind and soul and body to live out the best time possible ~ as you & Kit are doing!
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Mark Carney’s book looks interesting. Unfortunately, I’m so behind in my reading that I won’t be able to get to it anytime soon. -rc
A similar (in kind, if not in scale) situation happened in Canada when the Diefenbaker administration cancelled the Avro Arrow project. This state-of-the-art technology was way ahead of its time and would have been a real game-changer. But the Dief chickened out because of the cost. As a result, hundreds of Canada’s best and brightest engineers and scientists were scooped up by NASA at the beginning of the Apollo program. Some say that the Canadians “made” the Apollo program (although you may consider that to be hyperbole). I don’t think Canadian aeronautics ever recovered from that.
How about a comment from “the enemy”? Yes, I am a Federal employee, (37+ years with the DoD as an engineer). The reason that I am referring to myself as “the enemy” is because of a briefing given by Scott Kupor (Trump’s selection for the OPM Director) where he stated “All Federal employees are the enemy and should be fired”.
Since 1987, I have been working to protect the warfighters from nonconforming parts and material. In 2009, I started focusing mainly on counterfeit prevention — trying to keep counterfeit electronics, batteries, bearings, fasteners, refrigerant, etc. from infiltrating the Gov’t supply system. Over the years, while I have noticed some bloat and nonsense, a lot of that was actually caused by things that Congress directed Federal employees to do. Case in point: Congress directed DoD to cancel and/or give most of the military specifications/standards to industry Standard Developing Organizations (SDOs) (who slapped a cover sheet on those documents with a copyright, and then started charging the Gov’t anywhere from $75.00 to $450.00 per employee per use). That had a HUGE effect all the way across the Gov’t since those documents were not just used by DoD — NASA, FAA, DOE, etc. all used those military specs & standards… Getting copies of industry specs & standards is now very costly. The other problem is lack of control of the content of those specs/standards. The Gov’t does not have the time/resources now to work with the SDOs to make sure that those industry documents meet the needs of the Gov’t. I know this first-hand since I am working (on my own time) with several SDOs on counterfeit prevention specifications. Don’t have the time to do it during business hours, nor will my overly secure Gov’t computer allow me to access the SDOs’ websites to work with them….
I have been watching in horror as the plan goes forward to get rid of the Dep of Education because I am old enough to remember what things were like when the states were in charge of education. The public school that I attended Kindergarten (1960) in Michigan was a 2-room straw-thatched hut with 2 outhouses in back. NOT KIDDING!!!! The teacher had just graduated from HS, and she was trying to teach 4 grades of elementary kids in one room. There weren’t enough desks so all the kindergarteners had bring a rug in to sit on the floor. My mother was totally appalled, and tried to get school improvements — no joy. The response she got, and I quote it, “What’s good enough for grandther is good enough for my kids.” (The next year, we were suddenly Lutherans and I was enrolled in first grade at the Lutheran Day School, which amazingly enough had brick walls, a roof, and indoor plumbing.) Unfortunately, there were many other kids in that rural area who didn’t get the option to escape. It is a shame to think that we are going back to situations like this.
I had not planned to retire, until the current attacks of Trump and Musk. But, I can no longer take the insults of being called an enemy, the lack of respect for my work in protecting people from counterfeits, and the constant fear of losing my job and along with it, my retirement and health insurance. I am trying to finish up some special projects, and plan to retire at the end of July, (will have 38 years of service to the American people and our warfighters). I will not be replaced nor can I train anyone to do my job — I am the last engineer left at HQ of that Defense Agency and they cannot hire.
I am only one Federal employee serving America who has a story — there are 10,000s of us affected by these cuts and slashes, and many of them were doing jobs far more important than mine. I would also like to point out that cutting Federal employees isn’t going to save that much money — if all of us were fired, our salaries only make up about 1.7% of the Federal budget. Not a lot of savings. No, there is another reason for these cuts. I don’t know what it is, but I do not think that it is in our best interest as a country.
Actually, this reply is to Randy about his correction of my spelling of the word “grandther'”. I spelled that on purpose because that is how the word “grandfather” is actually pronounced in “no-where-vill” Michigan.
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Un-changed! -rc
Sad and powerful story. One element of it that is common to some of my friends who are still federal workers is that it is the best who are leaving. They have the intelligence to see what is coming and the skills to make a life elsewhere. Who will be left? The folks who were just phoning it in and counting the days until retirement (I know one of those personally) and those whose skills are too outdated or insufficient to compete in today’s marketplace.
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I happen to know Steve, and know that he knows what he’s talking about. He worked in a federal lab… and notice where he’s posting from. -rc
I’ve just left my three decade career at an internationally recognized air and space agency, choosing to take the carrot rather than waiting for the stick. My concern on this issue, though is not for me. My concern is that these deliberate efforts to defund and dismiss scientists and academics is part of the standard autocratic playbook. It’s not just the scientific and technical portions of the government, it’s major universities and hospitals. However, it seems that we as a people are so divided that we cannot even talk about this.
I work with a couple of top scientists who left the US when Trump was first president (in 2017). They took an offer extended by President Macron for a 4-year grant to leave the US and move their research to France. They never went back.
We have some openings now for research positions and received many applications from the US. A lot of talented folks want out!
It’s sad to see what’s happening with the US of A, and I really hope it’ll be stopped before it gets too much out of hand, but with at least four more years, I’m not sure.
The main problem with democracy is elections. Sure, it’s also the main benefit of it, but… Elected people often want to be re-elected, and thus are loathe to engage in things that may not be seen as positive before the next election, but would be very beneficial in the future.
Anyway, pruning a tree is seldom accomplished by cutting it down with a chainsaw, mostly that is done to kill the tree. It’s not improbable that the country will survive, but how many will suffer because what’s currently happening?
But now it’s time for this tired Swede to stop his disjointed ramblings and go to bed.
“Brain drain” been going on in Hawaii as far back as I remember. Young people get “priced out of paradise” and mid-level workers & small businesses find better opportunity and lower cost of living in the mainland or abroad. The idea that this can happen across the U.S. is scary.
There’s been another brain drain for decades based on our ridiculous immigration policies. Some of the brightest and most innovative people on the planet come here to attend some of our top universities; MIT, Harvard, Stanford, etc. Many of them would love to stay but our immigration policies won’t allow it. So, they go back to their home country or to some other country and become world leaders in technology, medicine, engineering, and business. We need top to bottom immigration reform that welcomes people who can contribute to this nation and our economy, and that keeps out violent criminals and terrorists.
To be fair, I believe there is TDS on both sides of the aisle. Those that are so anti-trump that he could cure cancer and they’d be upset that cancer was cured.
Then there is the other side, those with their heads so far up his backside they can smell his food as he is chewing.
Both are a hindrence.
Regardless, you’re right, in this article, we need a scalpel, not a chainsaw to make cuts. Although, in some instances a chainsaw would be a lot more fun.
Claiming that cultlike adoration of and evangelical remission of sins for Trump (and craven collaboration from Republicans in Congress), and reasonable outrage at his unprecedented, destructive refusal to govern along with the other two branches of government are comparable enough to be worth mentioning in the same sentence is a false equivalence.
I realize that Republicans have been groomed to set a lllooooww bar for governance, thought and honesty, but they should all do better while we still have a nation worth fighting for.
I’m just getting caught up on this thread, and I see you had a similar thought to mine. When I read the comment the one person made about Randy having TDS, I thought, “TDS actually applies to MAGA.” There is no such thing as a rational talk with any of them, for they become rabid. They make you feel as if you should run to the doctor for a rabies shot. I’m not suggesting we all agree on various topics, only that instead of reacting and foaming at the mouth, talk rationally.
Here’s an example of irrational behavior. The Chief Judge has stated (I’m paraphrasing here) that Trump has to follow due process; i.e., he cannot deport people without due process, which, of course, ticked off Trump and his supporters. The irrational reaction is that Congress is meeting today to tear down the judge for his determination to follow the Constitution. To the Congress, I suggest you read the Constitution before ripping apart the Chief Judge. That would be a rational thing to do.
Isn’t it ironic that when Trump wants to get away with something, he cries, “It’s in the Constitution!” Yet when things don’t go his way, he wants to get rid of the Constitution. He cannot read the Constitution because he has the attention of a flea with heartburn, but you folks in Congress can and SHOULD read it. It makes me ashamed that I have two people in the family who are Congressmen (one by marriage and the other is a cousin. The latter doesn’t know me and doesn’t know we’re cousins, and I sure as hell won’t tell him.) Congresspeople, listen, just because you are Republican doesn’t mean you cease responsibility to think, to grow a spine, and to stand up for America!
Opportunity knocking indeed. How long before immigrating OUT of the US will be declared illegal?
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The word for that is emigration, and if that’s made illegal, then we’d be less free than Russia. -rc
It is amazing the level of immaturity required to think everyone who disagrees with you must have a mental illness.
I consider it a KINDNESS. Otherwise I’d have to conclude that Trump supporters are instead WILLFULLY evil. And that triggers threat evaluation.
It’s ironic to the point of hypocrisy: Musk hires scientists for his only two successful businesses, but is trying to root out the only truly independent thinkers in government. Probably because thinking is contagious. Well, it USED to be; I’m not sure it still is, anymore.
The Cultural Revolution was Mao’s program to root out the educated and cement the Chinese Communist Party’s hold on power.
I can’t help but wonder if MAGA is Trump’s program to grind down the educated and cement MAGA’s hold on power.
Your wonderment is entirely reasonable. They even have Project 2025, though it is much bigger than a little red book. And Trump lied more consistently about Project 2025 than about all the other things he lied about.
However, I’m sure that MAGA would be offended by your mention of Mao’s Cultural Revolution; Mao was a red pinko Communist. They’re much more comfortable with Hitler’s example.
Randy, there’s no need to worry about the brain drain. Many North Koreans are applying — and often getting — work-from-home jobs as programmers / developers. So it will all balance out.
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At quite a cost savings, too. What could go wrong? -rc