http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/03/science/03RESE.html?pagewanted=1

U.S. Is Losing Its Dominance in the Sciences
Today, federal research budgets are still at record highs; this year more than $126 billion has been allocated to research. Moreover, American industry makes extensive use of federal research in producing its innovations and adds its own vast sums of money, the combination dwarfing that of any other nation or bloc.

But the edifice is less formidable than it seems, in part because of the nation's costly and unique military role. This year, financing for military research hit $66 billion, higher in fixed dollars than in the cold war and far higher than in any other country.

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In a report last month, the American Association for the Advancement of Science said the Bush administration, to live up to its pledge to halve the nation's budget deficit in the next five years, would cut research financing at 21 of 24 federal agencies — all those that do or finance science except those involved in space and national and domestic security.

Szóval az usa kezdi elveszíteni a kutatásokban az első helyét(pontosabban már el is veszítette).
Igaz,hogy a kutatási kiadásai a legnagyobbak a világon,de ezek nagy része védelmi célra megy el,ráadásul a magas deficit miatt a nem védelmi célú kiadások mértékét csökkenteni fogják....