Max Baucus: “in the book of Isaiah, the prophet wrote, ``[M]y people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.''…”

“in the book of Isaiah, the prophet wrote, ``[M]y people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge.'' Francis Bacon wrote, ``Knowledge itself is power.'' And when H.G. Wells summed up his history of the world, he concluded: ``Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.'' In the next two decades, America's history will become more and more a race for economic leadership. For more than a century, America's economy has set the pace. We have led all competitors. Year after year, we have become used to winning the race. But now, over our shoulder, we can hear the footsteps of another runner. That competitor is China. And it is gaining fast. If we wish not to go into economic subservience, if we wish to maintain our economic power, if we wish to avert economic misfortune, the answer is education. America's economic leadership has been a remarkable achievement. We Americans are just 4.6 percent of the world's people. More than a fifth of the world's people live in China. There are nearly 4\1/2\ times as many Chinese as there are Americans. Yet America produces 60 percent more goods and services than China. That is how Americans can enjoy one of the world's foremost standards of living. The average American's share of our economic output is $37,610 a year. The average Chinese's share of theirs is $1,100 a year. But from a slow start, China has picked up the pace.…”