Budget cuts and lost leadership in science

For the proud people who have slashed the budget of the National Institute of Health, which has traditionally supplied funding for many a science researcher, there's a sad consequence. I was doing some research on bladder cancer today and found that most of the new publications in this field, the latest research, is coming out of...China. Yup.

Most global pharmaceutical companies won't allow the use of publications from Asia to support their promotions in the US, presumably because they're substandard. I am starting to question that. From what I saw today of the latest research in science and medicine, the future is not owned by the US anymore.

Is boosting incomes for the top 1% of earners (their incomes recently doubled under the Republicans, while everyone else's went down) and helping Wall Street pay record bonuses during its financial crisis really more important than funding science research? Is allowing GE to pay no income tax and even receive a massive tax refund from American taxpayers anything short of stupid? What happened to representative government, one person one vote? Lobbyists have enough money to corrupt our government, and slowly eliminate any semblance of a democracy over here.

We are watching the decline of America, like Rome, falling from within.