The Business of America

If you ever get the desire, look at America's largest export on the Dept
of Commerce website. Or just keep reading and I'll tell you it is
royalties and licensing. So just what is this stuff and why does it affect
me?

Software, copyrighted material and patents comprise the lion's share of
these exports. If you are reading this, you better be aware that the
software is owned by a company and you only have a usage license. You can
NOT copy and sell it. In most cases, it is only licensed for use on one
computer. You can be held liable for civil damages for buying a single-use
license and installing it on your laptop and desktop computers. These same
licenses are sold overseas and these licenses are called exports.

Copyrighted material can be books, movies and music. Just figure it as
entertainment and educational media. Much of the material can be sent to a
foreign country in digital form, converted to end-user friendly media and
then distributed. All the costs of manufacturing and distribution costs
are borne by the recieving country and the original creators get a royalty
with little costs associated with the material beyond the actual creation.
Again, these royalties are exports.

In many cases, patents are licensed to overseas manufacturers solely due
to labor costs. High-tech patents tend to be put into production
in-country until a long-term market demand demonstrates an extended and
growing lifetime is projected. Rather than make substantial capital
improvements in-country manufacturing base, the creator company licenses
it for foreign manufacture. The original manufacturing tooling is reserved
for the next generation of high-tech item. Again, the costs are the
problem of the overseas manufacturer. Another export.

So just what does this mean and how does it affect me?

As this is all about profitability and growth of our export base, if you
aren't in the game you will continue to experience smaller incomes and
elimination of manufacuring jobs. If we consider greatest income versus
job availability, high-tech is the surest path to future economic wealth
generation.

However, there is a caveat. High-tech requires education. Most will be
forced to attend college in order to gain the required knowledge base to
enter the labor market. Any and all research and development of the next
best thing done while you attend college is owned by the college. At best,
you will get your name on the patent, but it is assigned to the college by
federal law. College is a business. You are effectively buying an
internship in the business in return for training.

This leads us to the simple fact that our entire economy depends on
education. We are constantly assailed with our children's need for more
investment in education. Our schools have chosen the path of cooperative
teamwork rather than individual merit. There are somewhat valid arguments
in favor of the teamwork approach.

High-tech innovation requires massive numbers of man-hours. In most cases,
the only available mechanism to achieve this requirement. Discipline is
improved in the classroom when all members are subject to peer pressure by
members of their team. If we mix the teams up enough, we can get pretty
fair results from mediocrity. Every child gets an atta-boy.

These advantages can lead to some serious problems. Children capable of
rapid learning tend to wander off. Attention Deficit Disorder is the
problem and drugs are the solution. This causes a dumbing down. Social
equalization is maintained, discipline is maintained and even a doped-up
child can function as part of a mediocre team.

When did this trend start? I tend to think the beginnings were in the
1960's with the race for space and the moon. Space held wonder, excitement
and hunger for students with any taste for science. There remains many
people opposed to the International Space Station and the NASA agency for
being a waste of money. I contend that NASA is our nation's primary
spokes-agency for science education.

End part 1