THE HILL
 
comment
Print

Google's Eric Schmidt: US is falling behind Asia

By Gautham Nagesh - 08/09/11 10:55 AM ET

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said in an interview on Fox News Monday that America is losing ground to Asia and he's frustrated with Congress.

"I am frustrated that America is in the process of falling behind Asia," Schmidt said. "I was recently in Asia and the Asian view of America is that we are the past."

Schmidt, who is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust subcommittee on Sept. 21, also had some harsh words for lawmakers after the recent debt-ceiling fight.

"The government had this big food fight over money they don't have to spend," Schmidt said. "And business wants stability, business wants predictable policies."

Schmidt said Asian countries rely on a different economic model and grow much faster, while the U.S. is grappling with long-term structural issues such as an aging population and the rising cost of healthcare.

Schmidt also said he was surprised the U.S. credit rating wasn't downgraded in 2008 when the markets were hit by the global financial crisis.

"So rather than looking at a specific downgrade let's look at the overall issue, let's look at the fundamental problem that the government is spending way too much money and the projections are that it is out of control," he said.

"This is a problem primarily with Congress — it has been true for 30 years, it is not a new problem, it has been true for both parties, and the way to solve this is to have a real conversation about how much overspending we want."


Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/176045-googles-eric-schmidt-us-is-falling-behind-asia
Phillip J. Bond’s ‘Tech Execs’ appears here on The Hill's Hillicon Valley Blog occasionally.

More Videos »

Hillicon Valley Twitter - Click to follow
bloglogo

More Briefing Room »

More Congress Blog »

More Pundits Blog »

More Twitter Room »

More Hillicon Valley »

More E2-Wire (Energy) »

More Ballot Box »

More On The Money »

More Healthwatch »

More Floor Action »

More Transportation »

More DEFCON Hill »

More Global Affairs »

More In The Know »

More RegWatch »

Get latest news from The Hill direct to your inbox, RSS reader and mobile devices.