Thomas Buffenbarger Quotes
When does the American taxpayer get a return on the money spent on Defense R&D? Never. Our companies are too quick to give our technology away for short term profits.
Thomas Buffenbarger, President, International Association of Machinists Union, Trade Agreements & Presidential Authority, National Press Club, December 9, 2013
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Industrial spying and trade secret thefts are very common in the South Korean business culture. Bribery of competitor’s employees is common. In the pre WWII period of Japanese control, the Japanese had a policy of keeping Korea technically backward to produce food cheaply and trade the food to Japan and buy manufactured goods from Japan—a classic colonial strategy. Japanese engineers and other technicians would go to Korea set up facilities but never share their knowledge with the Koreans. If technicians were needed, they would have to come from Japan. None the less there is a cultural blindness and Korean firms will commonly steal technology from anyone—partners or others. The South Korean Governments had looked at this with a blind eye. Many Koreans believe that because of past history the only way that they can survive on world competition is to continue to pilfer technology. However, modern South Korea has excellent technicians and scientists in almost all fields and making the cultural shift to a standard that is more consonant with the majority of the industrial democracies is the great challenge.
This was an official publication of the U. S. Army. The First World War had very little affect on future military preparedness At that time conservatives in Congress were very isolationist and military preparedness was not a high priority or even a significant political issue. The Democrats then were more supportive of military spending than the Republicans. It took World War II, for which America was very unprepared, to produce a change in public and political opinion regarding military preparedness.
This has been true for a long time. The United States in its colonial days and its early days of independence stole huge amounts, especially from England. The Lowells stealing the technology and machines for weaving cloth from English companies is one dramatic example. Another is the fact that we did not recognize the copyright laws until the middle of the 19th century. American publishers, including Benjamin Franklin, stole most of the material they published. Thomas Jefferson was a foe of government protection of intellectual property—{605105}.
Reagan probably fully intended to share the technology but the Russian leader, and his advisors, did not believe that an American President was powerful enough to fulfill such a pledge in the face of opposition by the right wing members of Congress and the military industrial complex,
R. Thomas "Tom" Buffenbarger is an American labor leader and President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
