Ardem Patapoutian is an immigrant from Lebanon. He put himself through college delivering pizza and later won a Nobel Prize in medicine the sense of touch, which has many practical applications, including pain treatment. However, US policy makers concluded that we can no longer afford such luxuries, and slashed his research grant. Within hours, he got an invitation from China offering him a lab in any university and any city, with guaranteed funding for 20 years.
I think there is some real synergy here. We send China all of our top researchers and grad students. And then send us menial, low wage factory jobs. I think this is good plan. I’m glad we have our top people formulating these policies.