Business Roundtable

In the global competition to create the highest-skilled workforce, the United States is not keeping up.

Two articles on facing pages in today's New York Times illustrates the economic stakes.

Page A12, "U.S. Sees Other Countries Luring Expatriates to Return":

The United States is facing intense competition from foreign countries, especially China, that are seeking to persuade highly skilled citizens who have settled in this country to return home to start businesses there, according to a report released Tuesday by an immigration group led by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.

Page A13, "Big Day for Who Entrepreneur Who Promises More":

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — He does not have the name recognition of some other space entrepreneurs, people like Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin empire, or Paul Allen of Microsoft fame, or Jeff Bezos, the Amazon.com billionaire.

That will probably change if things keep going his way. Elon Musk, a computer prodigy and serial entrepreneur whose ambitions include solving the world’s energy needs and colonizing the solar system, was the man of the hour — or of 3:44 a.m. Tuesday, Eastern time — when the rocket ship built by his company, SpaceX, lifted off gracefully in a nighttime launching and arced off in a streak of light amid loud applause.

Musk was born in South Africa, emigrated at 17 to Canada, earned degrees in economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to help found PayPal, sold in 2002 to eBay for $1.5 billion. Since then he's launched ventures in private space travel, solar power, and electric vehicles, notably Tesla Motors.

He's a naturalized American citizen and exactly the kind of innovator and entrepreneur who can drive economic growth in a nation.

The report from the Partnership for a New American Economy is “Not Coming to America: Why the US is Falling Behind in the Global Race for Talent."