About 4 years ago, I wrote a rather prescient piece about which of the Year 2000 presidential candidates would be best for the advancement and use of technology in the U.S. Then-Gov. Bush won my competition by an eyelash, much as he did the actual election.
As November approaches, however, voters must again decide on a national leader and I, your technology leader, will present the technology case for the two major candidates. The format is simple. Ill lay out some key technology issues facing our industry, as well as business and the nation at large. In each case, Ill rate the candidates and give an "edge," if there is one. At the end of this little exercise the chips, if not the chads, will fall where they may.
Candidates positions are taken from their Web sites and from transcripts of recent speeches.
Expanding Broadband. Both candidates favor expanding broadband (cable or DSL) Internet access in the U.S., with President Bush pushing for having the technology in "every corner of our country" by 2007. Sen. Kerry says he wants to put broadband in the hands of all first-responders by 2006, with others presumably to follow. Edge: Even
Tax Credits for Research and Development. Sen. Kerry favors extending the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit to encourage private sector R&D in technology. President Bush wants to make those tax credits permanent, instead of simply extending them. He also wants to raise federal spending on research and development by 44% over what it was when he took office. Sounds more decisive to me. Edge: Bush
Outsourcing. President Bush favors no restrictions on U.S. firms outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. Outsourcing is a major issue for IT (information technology), which has seen its ranks shrink in the U.S. over the past several years as jobs are exported to other nations. Sen. Kerry wants to end tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas, while giving tax breaks to companies who keep jobs in the U.S. That makes sense for our recovering economy. Edge: Kerry
