Government Briefs

A Stealth Technology Policy? Critics of the Bush administration's approach to what is nowadays called technology policy - that is, government actions meant to strengthen certain industries deemed essential for the health of the U.S. economy - had a field day during a hearing last month on the subject before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee. The chairman, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), wondered whether a range of such key technologies "will receive government backing or government indifference." Griffith Resor, president of MRS Technology Inc., a Massachusetts company that makes multimillion-dollar tools for the high-resolution photolithography industry, cracked that "the president's technology policy must be classified because it's one of the best-kept secrets in Washington." In turn, presidential science adviser Allan Bromley defended the administration's actions by saying that the country faces "deep, structural problems" that have to do more with the high cost of capital, the emphasis on short-term ...