The next Google found in a garage in China

You have to analyze more than just SATs and college graduates
You can't tech someone how to hack, but you can tech them to code
The people who start successful startups build them not to become giant bureaucrats
They do it because they love to do it

There is to many layers of old world politics to deal with in China, and India
Censorship, Pork, Muslims, Untouchables, etc...
Now I do believe Indians, Chinese, Russians, Brazilians, Norwegians will come to America and build successful startups or join successful startups
But I don't think Silicone Valley has anything to worry about from Third World countries

Silicone Valley is the future, get on the bus

Hey Jones, you are still in deep sleep. No wonder having such a dream! Wake Up!

BTW, it's "Silicon Valley", not "Silicone"!
Silicone is for your breast implant! Don't think Google find that useful for their start-up!

He meant Hollywood, of course ...

But ethics do matter just look at the 2007/2008 financial collapse.

That isolationist (not to mention prematurely defeatist) rhetoric really worked well for us in the lead-up to WWII, didn't it?

That said, balance in all things is a good thing. And the US is definitely not in balance with regards to its overseas commitments. Cutbacks, yes. Wholesale retreat from the world at large? You must be crazy. You're advocating that we take the reverse of the path that the Chinese, Indians, and others are taking to world relevancy.

Without becoming extreme about, some isolationism right now would help balance things out. To the reader that rebuffed the idea on the grounds of isolationism and what it did in WW2 - there are different ways of looking back at history. In fact it was a healthy dose of isolationism that lifted up America to a superpower - as it joined WW2 when everyone else was worn down by it, and ended up the sole victor on the field. Consider even further, if US did not take Germany out right away, safeguarded Europe, but allowed Germany to fight Russia for a while longer - Russia would have spent all of it's military reserves and the Cold War could have been avoided too. Overextension is just as bad as over-isolationism. Balance in everything.

If we reduce our overextension now, we in fact would be closer to what the rising powers are doing, not the opposite! China, India and others are focused on their internal development of research, education and infrastructure science. We're still hanging on to the Cold War era idea that if we "just beat the bad guys", then we can "make everything good everywhere". The longer we hold on to it, the more it will hurt us.

It has been inevitable that the margin of development achieved by the US after WW II would diminish, and it is heartening that nations that heretofore could not feed their people are now ascending toward economic parity with the US. This does not speak of a US disease but merely of a leveling of the playing field. And, let us not forget that this leveling of the playing field was precipitated by the good world governance promoted by the Pax Americana and by the openness of the US market. Any concerns about the health of entrepreneurialism should lie in the minds of the leaders of those nations where there is rampant abuse of intellectual property, wide-spread institutionalized corruption and governments that exert significant influence over the picking of winners and losers. The concern of the larger world should be as to how (and whether possible) to maintain the good world governance that has promoted the emergence of these new economies in a new multi-polar world where there are major players who lack respect for human rights and who pursue a zero-sum games in the pursuit of their nationalist ambitions

Pax Americana was our mistake. While are spending a lot of our resources keeping the peace in the world, the real beneficiaries are the developing countries. They are growing up to be serious competitors, first in the economic realm, and the military realm is sure to follow. Do you seriously think China will be happy letting our navy dominate the seas of the world?

If you dream of a world brotherhood of nations when "everyone will just get along", please remember this has NEVER happened in the history of Man. Probably for a good reason - probably because it is contrary to the core nature of Man. And if you do insist on dreaming of it, at least consider it might not be wise to make ourselves vulnerable to rising competitors, while we're busy dreaming.

How about the ultra-cheap Nano car, invented and produced by Indian car-maker, Tata? It doubtlessly required multiple innovations to reach such a low price point. I expect a lot more such innovation aimed at "the bottom of the pyramid" from them; doubtlessly there are many other examples (which I've seen cited in other articles--too lazy to go hunt them down).

As for China, their method for maintaining a railroad across the permafrost of the Tibetan Himalayas should definitely count as a dazzling innovation. Most engineers from elsewhere said this couldn't be done. We have yet to see if this will remain viable long-term, but thus far the railway seems to have avoided the calamity everyone had predicted.

For that matter--and as much as I hate it--the Great Firewall of China demonstrates quite a bit of innovation. True, they've basically just thrown tons of resources at the problem; such state manhandling isn't the most efficient form of innovation. But innovation it should be called nonetheless. Authoritarian states around the globe look to China in innovating the technology of repression.

Umm, well, let me see. Does taking out a suborbital satellite using a missile with pinpoint accuracy count?

Give the guy a break. It's just a little article of no further consequence.

you're suggesting, let us put our heads under the guillotine, and hope that the executioner will be our friend and not pull the lever? Once these countries become powerful, they will be not our "allies and friends" but fierce opponents. This is the nature of Man; it is inevitable.

What we can do is make sure our strategic position is less assailable.

Terrible roads, a crumbling state infrastructure, budget deficits and a fleeing population.. Yup. Silicon Valley is about the ONLY thing to recommend California.

When you're dealing with a dearth of critical thinking skills, common sense and inability to trouble-shoot and problem solve because these traits are not part of the culture nor taught in their educational systems, you can't expect much for your seemingly cheap expat buck. When it comes to outsourcing, you get what you pay for. I've seen too much come back from Bangalore tht had to be re-coded, re-written or just re-done! After experiencing the incompetence first hand - barring a few as you correctly mention - and seeing the decline of productivity, deliverability and quality thanks to outsourcing, it's one of the worst business policies the US corporation has ever stupidly embraced. The increase in H-1B immigrants - especially those who show up not able to communicate effectively in English - has dumbed down the US work environment to let the ''rest of the world catch up'' as one former EU colleague informed me.

Shut the US borders for awhile, let ICE do their job and deport every expired green card/visa/illegal, bring home manufacturing (to give our 40million unemployed a job) and let's get back to being self-sufficient again. I'm so bored w/the PC fallicy that Americans are less educated/intelligent than these other folks are - what a crock! Maybe Mr. Wadhwa needs to head back to India and he can try to eat our lunch. I doubt we'll be eating chapatis in bulk anytime soon!

Mr. Wadhwa's silly panic-mongering notwithstanding, I do not understand the reason for Mr. KCISOBDERF's smugness.

While India and China have a long way to go before they truly become technology powerhouses and threaten our current supremacy -- we must not wait around for a second 'sputnik' moment to get our rear in gear. For, unlike the Soviet Union/Russia then, we are now dealing with two countries that between them make up 37% of humankind against our 4.5%. The two Asian giants are on the move and, given the numbers arrayed against us, it would be wise to assume that the odds do not favor us.

Consider the following:

1) From 1625 until 1875 China and India were the world's two top economies....China being number 1 followed by India at number 2 (excepting for a brief period between 1675 and 1700 when India took the number 1 spot pushing China to number 2);

2) The two countries have a history of innovation and discovery that spans over four thousand years;

3) Some seminal breakthroughs in Science and Math were made by ancients in these two countries -- some of which were only replicated in Europe a thousand or more years later;

4) Unlike our country, the tradition of higher learning is greatly respected and deeply rooted in the cultures of China and India;

5) Immigrants from China and India continue to contribute disproportionately to the sciences and the arts in the US of A;

6) It is estimated that 33% of all start-ups in OUR Silicon Valley are founded and led by either an Indian or a Chinese entrepreneur;

7) This is replicated across all high-tech geographies in the USA -- with ex-pats from these two countries occupying critical leadership positions in our marquee companies/organizations like Microsoft, Google, and NASA (to name just a few);

8) Cross-pollination among ex-pats from India and China with their brethren in the old countries continue to increase exponentially;

9) Just like one cannot coach height in Basketball, one cannot out compete overwhelming numbers -- especially, if they are aligned properly against one. Both India and China are slowly getting their houses in order. Keep in mind, their economic booms are a result of economic policies introduced in the past 2 to 3 decades. China unshackled its economy in the 1980s with India following in the 1990s;

10) Neither Russia nor Japan (the two countries cited by Mr. KCISOBDERF) can boast such sustained and impressive history of performance (or raw population numbers of China and India). Hence, their examples are misleading;

Having said that, we still have the advantage of a great lead at the moment. Let's not squander it. We can still pull together and maintain our leading place under the sun if we truly take the time to understand the ground realities.

Given the past history, it is just a matter of time that these two countries could surpass us -- especially, if we continue to have misplaced priorities (e.g., foolish foreign wars, policing the world, ignoring our schools, and disproportionately rewarding non-productive professions like bankers, lawyers, and con-men, etc.).

Shaking off our smugness and our belief in our 'exceptionalism' would be a great first step.

Except this current president doesn't want us to compete. If he did, he wouldn't bankroll failing companies with our tax dollars nor would he try to devastate one of the most lucrative and well-paying industries the US still relies on - petroleum. I agree with you completely on the need to focus on funding value-added curricula. But then again, look at who now controls the educational system - our feel-good, left-wing liberal friends who don't exactly understand the concept of competitiveness and economic strength and independence.

Oil is an old industry, and the US is a net importer. The oil industry is a massive drain on the United States. There isn't a single country on earth that would benefit more from its destruction.

Delusional dude -- Mr. Soetoro.

Pray, what has the following pearls got to do with the core point that America's economic hegemony is on the verge of being challenged by two historic economic powerhouses:

"They don’t have garages in China; viewed as a useless space. Indians have yet to catch up and afford a sudden inflammatory mobility device called an automobile offered by TATA yet; a nice way to send the wife to rama and trade up to a younger offering, perhaps"

and

"Ahmedabad is in the Gujarat province of India, on the north western coast; a fast growing city; large Muslim population who in the early 1940s, wanted to “Quit India”. Look it up. The average high temp is in the 30s Celsius and very dry climate most of the year."

and

“please ignore the human body parts that have suddenly appeared in your Roghan Josh, sir; it just so happens we have learned the victims are vegetarian, so their added flavour will be very healthy!”

With such powerful comprehension as displayed by Mr. Soetoro, the future of America is in good hands!