Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs calls education cuts 'suicidal'

Cutting the budget for all levels of education in the USA is ‘suicidal’, according to Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs.

Jacobs said that tax rates should be raised in the US to help pay for better education.

Jacobs told a meeting in New Bedford, Massachusetts that cuts in education funding and in the funding going to university research were going “in the wrong direction”.

He said that the government should do more to support education at all levels from pre-kindergarten to university level.

He added that the shortage of well-trained workers was a major constraint to the running of Qualcomm while he was building it up.

Jacobs’ remarks echo the often-repeated assertions of former Intel CEO Craig Barrett that the standard of education in the US has fallen and is continuing to fall.

Raising tax levels in the US is difficult because a lot of US industry is owned by private equity companies which, by using debt capital rather than equity capital, avoid paying tax on their profits.

Rich Americans have also seen their personal taxes cut over the last decade, while half the population lives on some form of federal hand-out.