Scientist emigration

This brief in The Scientist actually comes close to some of my more recent feelings on the matter.

"Rennie said that scientists he met expect funding for research to grow even tighter in Bush's second term because of deep tax cuts and the cost of the war in Iraq. 'The people I talked to felt very depressed at the thought of another four years of Bush policy,' he said."

This is not only about Bush policy, this is about Republican policy. My feeling is that the [slim] voting majority feels perfectly fine pursuing anti-scientific policies, cutting taxes left and right, and acting beligerent towards all sorts of nations. That really doesn't leave much room for biomedical science research. Recently some fat-cheeked bozo on Fox News attempted to soften the population to the idea that the NIH budget might actually need to be cut (i.e. given less than the sub-inflation increases of late). Granted, this might have been code-speak for cutting research on issues relevant to the homos and loose women the Christians despise, but it's not a good sign.

Will I want to do it? Go back to Europe? Not anytime soon and not without a lot of thought. But my confidence in the American system has been tremendously shaken this month. I believed the election would prove to be a self-corrective process on an obvious mistake. I was wrong. I believed that the tremendous public support and funding for science would make the NIH safe. Maybe I might need to rethink that. I dreamed that so many more options would be open here than in Europe (industry jobs of all sorts). Given all the layoffs over the last few years and the prospect of deepening economic woes, is that still true?

My urge to move would not be a flippant sentiment. Back in 2000, numerous people, many in science, expressed the sentiment of emigrating to Canada. I thought that was a stupid response. Though I was disappointed, I had confidence that things would never actually get bad. Before leaving Europe, my dad expressed the sentiment that it'd be best to go back to the US after all, since things could never actually get bad in the US: just add a few cents tax on gas and the deficits are wiped out, the law of mass-action. Is that still the case? Would we (as a majority) still be willing to get things rolling on non-defense spending?

I have the option of living and working either in Weaselworld or in Jesusland. That makes the decision both easier and more difficult. Easier because I have the option, more difficult because I might get tempted to actually act on it. So, now we have a situation where--if we might have another terrorist attack or if we might attack Iran or some other country--we might just run into serious national fiscal problems. Add to that the possibility that moving to Europe may allow the possibility to raise a child (children) without worrying about health care or education, and without worrying too much about retirement? Life may not be so bad in Europe as a scientist as it might have been in the past. Especially since Europe has done all the right things to support and advance science in the last few years.

These are just preliminary thoughts while I'm watching gold: