As far as R&D Spending, China swaps places with Japan! (Closes in on USA)

Well, I guess you might have seen it coming when you looked at the graph to the left....even though the numbers reported there look small for those years, the trajectory of growth is one that should be scary. (According to an article, in 2001 the USA spent $282 billion and Japan $104 billion)

So how has all this progressed....well, I am not sure it is going to be clear from the way money is spent since the world currencies are fluctuating and some say the Yuan is not properly set to the dollar. (China apparently fixes it and it is supposed to currently be undervalued)

But this article in 2003 clearly indicates that China is a distant third in R&D spending. Then
this 2004 article talks further about the advances in R&D spending in China, and their steady increases as a percentage of GDP. (this and the steady growth in technical education make it clear that this is a plan, not a fluke)

Then in 2005, this article simple asked the question directly in it's title, "Is China the next R&D Superpower?"

So last night we see this article that is yet another in the series.....this time we see that China has eclipsed Japan in R&D spending, and according to other articles I read is spending about 41% of what the US is in R&D. (That's $136 billion for China vs $330 billion in the USA...but that about that devalued Yuan...could they already actually be spending more than we calculate?)

What does this all mean.....well when a person at the Organization of Coorperation and Development is quoted as saying the development is "stunning", we might want to stand up and take notice. (and work to maintain our lead)

We will see if the news organizations in this country even report this. (I think it should be front page news)