Mitt Romney on Technology Former Republican Governor (MA); presidential nominee-apparent

Get serious about cyber capability, offensive and defensive

China counterfeits our electronics & steals our technology

OBAMA: As far as currency manipulation, [China's] currency has actually gone up 11 percent since I've been president because we have pushed them hard. And we've put unprecedented trade pressure on China. That's why exports have significantly increased under my presidency. That's going to help to create jobs here.

Q: Apple iPhones are all manufactured in China. How do you convince Apple to bring that manufacturing back here?

ROMNEY: The answer is very straightforward. We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. China's been cheating over the years. One by holding down the value of their currency. Number two, by stealing our intellectual property; our designs, our patents, our technology. There's even an Apple store in China that's a counterfeit Apple store, selling counterfeit goods. They hack into our computers. We will have to have people play on a fair basis.

Stop the subsidies to PBS, even though I like Big Bird

Innovation is the key to economic growth and job creation

A: Innovation is the key to economic growth and job creation, and increasingly important to American competitiveness in the global economy. 3/4 of all US economic growth, and 3/4 of the US productivity advantage over other OECD nations, is directly attributable to innovation, and wages in innovation-intensive industries have grown more than twice as fast as other wages in recent decades. My plan for a stronger middle class will rebuild the American economy on the principles of free enterprise, hard work, and innovation. The promotion of innovation will begin on Day One, with efforts to simplify the corporate tax code, reform job retraining programs, reduce regulatory burdens, and protect American intellectual property around the world.

Government has no role in "managing" the Internet

A: It is not the role of any government to "manage" the Internet. The Internet has flourished precisely because government has so far refrained from regulating this dynamic and essential cornerstone of our economy. I would rely primarily on innovation and market forces, not bureaucrats, to shape the Internet and maximize its economic, social and scientific value. Thanks to the non- governmental multi-stakeholder model, the Internet is--and always has been--open to all ideas and lawful commerce as well as bountiful private investment.

There are also calls for increased international regulation of the Internet through the UN. I will oppose any effort to subject the Internet to an unaccountable, innovation-stifling international regulatory regime. Instead, I will clear away barriers to private investment and innovation and curtail needless regulation of the digital economy.

Net Neutrality imposes government as a central gatekeeper

ROMNEY: Unfortunately, Pres. Obama has chosen to impose government as a central gatekeeper in the broadband economy. His policies interfere with the basic operation of the Internet, create uncertainty, and undermine investors and job creators. Specifically, the FCC's "Net Neutrality" regulation represents an Obama campaign promise fulfilled on behalf of certain special interests, but ultimately a "solution" in search of a problem. The government has now interjected itself in how networks will be constructed and managed, picked winners and losers in the marketplace, and determined how consumers will receive access to tomorrow's new applications and services. The Obama Administration's overreaching has replaced innovators and investors with Washington bureaucrats

Space crucial to national security & international standing

A: The mission of the US space program is to spur innovation through exploration of the heavens, inspire future generations, and protect our citizens and allies.

• Space is crucial to technological innovation. We must demonstrate a long-term commitment to the pursuit of innovation.
• Space is crucial to the global economy, from agriculture to air transportation, from natural resources to financial management.
• Space is crucial to national security. US and allied space capabilities provide a source of strategic advantage to military and intelligence functions that has no parallel.
• Space is crucial to America's international standing. Independent access to space, the launch of satellites, and the travel of citizens to and from space continue to be seen as major technical achievements that convey not only America's military & economic power, but also the power of American values.

Rare earth scarcity driven by regulation, not economics

A: The United States was once self-sufficient in its production of critical natural resources like rare-earth minerals. But a decline in production, driven more by regulation than by economics or scarcity, has left the nation reliant on imports. The key to guaranteeing the quality and availability of these resources is a modernized regulatory regime that protects the environment while providing access to the inputs that our economy requires to grow and thrive. By adopting creative approaches to the development of all the nation's resources, America can benefit fully from its extraordinary natural endowments.

Focus manned space program on commercial products

ROMNEY: That's an enormous expense. And right now I want to be spending money here. Of course the Florida space coast has been badly hurt and I believe in a very vibrant and strong space program. I'd like to bring in the top professors that relate to space areas and physics, the top people from industry, because I want to make sure what we're doing in space translates into commercial products. I want to bring in our top military experts on space needs. And I'd like to come together and talk about different options and the cost. I'd like corporate America as well as the defense network and others that could come together in a partnership basis to create a plan that will keep our space program thriving and growing. I'm not looking for a colony on the moon. I'd rather be rebuilding housing here in the US.

SOPA, as written, restricts the Internet & free speech

GINGRICH: Virtually everybody who's technologically advanced say this is going to totally mess up the Internet, and the bill in its current form is written really badly and leads to a range of censorship that is totally unacceptable.

ROMNEY: I think he got it just about right. The law as written is far too intrusive, far too expansive, far too threatening to freedom of speech and movement of information across the Internet. It would have a potentially depressing impact on one of the fastest-growing industries in America, which is the Internet and all those industries connected to it. At the same time, we care very deeply about intellectual content that's going across the Internet. And if we can find a way to very narrowly, through our current laws, go after those people who are pirating, particularly those from offshore, we'll do that--but a very broad law--I think that's a mistake.

Mining the moon costs too much

Q: Why don't you name them?

ROMNEY: We can start with his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the moon, I'm not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that.

GINGRICH: I'm proud of trying to find things that give young people a reason to study science and math and technology and telling them that someday in their lifetime, they could dream of going to the moon, they could dream of going to Mars. I grew up in a generation where the space program was real, where it was important, and where frankly it is tragic that NASA has been so bureaucratized. Iowa's doing brilliant things, attracting brilliant students. I want to give them places to go and things to do. And I'm happy to defend the idea that America should be in space and should be there in an aggressive, entrepreneurial way.

China must respect intellectual property if they want trade

Perry: This whole issue of allowing cyber security to go on, we need to use all of our resources--the private sector working along with our government. To really stand up the cyber command in 2010 was a good start on that. But fighting this cyber war, I would suggest, is one of the great issues that will face the next President.

Romney: To continue to have free and open access to the thing they want so badly, our markets, they have to play by the rules. They can't hack into our computer systems and steal from our government. They can't steal from corporations. They can't take patents and designs, intellectual property, and duplicate them and counterfeit them and sell them around the world. And they also can't manipulate their currency in such a way as to make their prices well below what they otherwise would be.

Charge WikiLeaks insider with treason

ROMNEY: Treason. That's really committing a crime against his nation.

LENO: But he [Julian Assange] isn't an American. He's Australian.

ROMNEY: No, I'm not talking about the WikiLeaks guy--the guy who...

LENO: [interrupting] .... Oh, [Bradley] Manning.

ROMNEY: Took secret information, and if he's the one who did it and if he is found to be the one who did it, he has committed an act of treason against his country.

WikiLeaks was treason; a crime against our nation

ROMNEY: Treason. That's really committing a crime against his nation.

LENO: But he [Julian Assange] isn't an American. He's Australian.

ROMNEY: No, I'm not talking about the WikiLeaks guy -- the guy who...

LENO: [interrupting] Oh, [Bradley] Manning.

ROMNEY: Took secret information, and if he's the one who did it and if he is found to be the one who did it, he has committed an act of treason against his country.

Two-part innovation: improve the old; invent the new

In an effort to make existing products better and to make them more efficiently, innovation in the use of capital has long been major source of productivity growth. A great deal of what had previously done by hand was now performed by robots. Capital innovation had led to fewer workers, better product quality, and greater productivity.

Innovation may also improve the way in which labor is organized and utilized.

National R&D spending OK; picking winners not OK

The realities of that marketplace sort out those that have potential for growth and sustainability and those that do not. Attempting to substitute government for the roles carried out by entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists while also bypassing the unforgiving test of the free market is a very bad idea indeed.

A road project isn't going to stimulate the economy now

The Big Dig solved a problem, but cost way too much to do

A: Someone has remarked that the biggest cars [are made] in the US and most expensive, too. It's solved a problem, but it cost way too much money to do. It was very badly managed. Building a road project, you have to get designs, you have eminent domain, you get the engineers to approve it. It takes years and years and years to get a road project. So it's a wonderful idea, but it's not related to the short-term economic stimulus.

AdWatch: More change in next 10 years than in 10 centuries

Many are pessimistic. I'm not.

In the next 10 years, we'll see more progress, more change than the world has seen in the last 10 centuries.

Our next president must unleash the promise and innovation of the American people.

I'm ready for that challenge. The future begins now.

I'm Mitt Romney and I not only approve this message, I'm asking for your vote

FactCheck: Ludicrous exaggeration to compare 10 centuries

The ad features Romney talking straight to the camera, exuding confidence and optimism and saying "I'm ready" to "unleash the promise and innovation of the American people." We have no quarrel with that; any candidate is entitled to lay out goals.

A Romney spokesman said he didn't mean what he said as fact, calling the statement "a metaphor." We call it a ludicrous exaggeration. Lacking a crystal ball or time machine, we can't predict the future. But based on available evidence we judge Romney's claim to be so far beyond the usual bounds of campaign exaggeration as to be worthy of ridicule.

To compete globally, invest in education and technology

Invest in nanotech and materials science

• On investing in technology: "Our national investment in technology comes from both the private and public sector. However, corporations today spend more on tort liability than they do on research and development. While the government already invests heavily in defense, space, and health technologies related to power generation, nanotechnology, and materials science."
• On the rate of profit on technology investment: "In technology we as a country already invest an enormous amount--for instance, in defense technology, space technology, health--but we also need to invest in some of the emerging technologies that are important at a basic science level, such as fuel cell technology, power generation, materials science, automotive technology. We have to recognize that where we invest as a nation, both from a government standpoint but also from a private standpoint, those are the areas we've been most successful."

Invest in infrastructure from growing economy by lower taxes

A: There's no question--if you really want to make some money in this country, really get some money so we can repair our infrastructure and build for the future, the biggest source of that is a growing American economy. If the economy is growing slowly, when tax revenues hardly move at all, and, boy, you better raise taxes to get more money for all the things you want to do. But if the economy is growing quickly, then we generate all sorts of new revenue. And the best way to keep the economy rolling is to keep our taxes down. Our bridges--let me tell you what we did in our state. We found that we had 500 bridges, roughly, that were deemed structurally deficient. And so we changed how we focused our money. Instead of spending it to build new projects--the bridge to nowhere, new trophies for congressmen--we instead said, "Fix it first." We have to reorient how we spend our money.

Would veto legislation reviving the Fairness Doctrine

CC:Secure the grid against terrorism.

The Christian Coalition Voter Guide inferred whether candidates agree or disagree with the statement, 'Take federal action to secure the grid against foreign/terrorist interference ' Christian Coalition's self-description: "Christian Voter Guide is a clearing-house for traditional, pro-family voter guides. We do not create voter guides, nor do we interview or endorse candidates."