Here are the proposals (ultra-summarized):<p>- Double R&D funding<p>- Invest in nationwide "foundational infrastructure"<p>- Implement federal multi-year flexible grants for individuals<p>- Increase "Government–Industry–Academia Collaborations"<p>- Improve talent retention and get more tech talent into government<p>- Build public confidence in the benefits of new technologies<p>Here's the problem I see with all of these: all but the last one mean spending significantly more tax dollars on tech, and to date I have seen zero appetite for that from either mainstream politicians <i>or</i> the non-valley public. What we seem to have is a situation where US technology development has effectively been outsourced to private corporations, which are often quite happy to outsource it again to other countries if it means better profit margins. Meanwhile, the general public wants their tax dollars to fund things they actually feel every day, like basic infrastructure, education, and healthcare. It's not at all clear where the push to get Schmidt's proposals moving would come from.
> My concern is that China tries to fulfill a vision of high-tech authoritarianism<p>Is he afraid that china implements their own version of captcha(tm). Leaving Google and the private sector out of the loop of monetizing censorship?