Part Three
If this is truly going to be our Sputnik moment, we need a commitment to innovation that we haven't had since President Kennedy challenged us to go to the moon . We direct a large research area that is one of the most promising for economic growth and job creation—clean energy technologies. I don't want to see new solar panels or electric cars or advanced batteries made in Europe or in Asia. I want to see them in America for the benefit of American companies and American workers.
I also want to make it easier for our businesses and workers to sell their products around the world. The more we export abroad, the more jobs we support at home. We have to change the formula. We need your script because what happens is, we've done all the buying and they've done all the selling. We have to start selling and get them to make some purchases. That's why we've set a goal to double U.S. exports in five years. That's why I'm glad, last week, that we were close to meeting the goal of a trade agreement with our ally, South Korea. This is a country that provides one of the fastest growing markets for U.S. goods.
Part Four
To advance our recovery, I have recommended that all American businesses should be allowed to invest in their investments by 2011. We want to start next year and start investing in startups, plant and equipment here, in Winston-Salem and throughout North Carolina, throughout the United States.
To encourage the spirit of home-grown American innovation, we want to help patent a new idea or a new invention. If you're wondering one of the reasons so many companies are choosing to do their research and development in places like China and India, it's because the United States ranks 24th out of 38 countries for its generous tax incentives for research and development. Well that's why I propose setting up a larger, permanently tax-deductible corporation to research and innovate them here, in the United States. Everything everything.
Now, the real value. Likewise, one is that a lot of companies don't invest in basic research because it won't pay off right away. But that doesn't mean batteries aren't necessary for our economic future. Forty years ago, it might not have seemed useful or profitable for scientists and engineers to figure out how to increase the capacity of integrated circuits. 40 years later, I still don’t know what it means. What I do know is that the discovery of integrated circuits at the time led to iPods and cell phones and GPS and CT scans—products that created new companies and countless new jobs in manufacturing and retail, and other industries.