Yes the days of science engineering and productivity being prime drivers of western politics are sadly long since passed. In contrast in China the vast majority of the politburo are trained engineers. The Chinese recognised and adopted the importance of engineering to economic progress while in the West it became taken for granted as a new creed of financial engineers became the new 'wealth creators' under neoliberalisms crony capitalism. In the West the most powerful engineers now are the financial engineers who work for the banks who in turn own most of the politicians. They add no value- they are simply parasitic rentseekers steadily undermining the competitive advantage the west once enjoyed.