re: #1 Bubblehead II

This ban has put us (United States) what? Eight years behind in research?

Far more than eight. Even though it has helped creating some rather nifty workarounds the ban itself has ensured that a rather substantial number of talented scientists have left the US and founded companies or found gainful employment elsewhere in the world. Now, I think that there are US companies that will likely invest and consolidate the market, cherry pick a bit. But the fact remains that cutting edge research is not happening in the US and will not happen for quite some time because there simply isn’t any infrastructure (in terms of brains) at this particular point in time.

That will resolve itself but it will take some time.