A very interesting little piece from Digital Chosunibo I caught a few hours ago. Apparently South Korea's aggressive investments in technological infrastructure are costing them quite a bit.

The royalties paid on foreign intellectual property clocked in at USD $3.86b, which represents an increase of just under 20% from the previous year. They are not without their own revenue streams, as USD $1.49b in royalties were generated; a 33.7% increase.

This points to something JLM and I talked about a couple months back, more specifically about China. It appears that a large amount of Asian development, because it depends heavily on technology, is generating an extremely large debt to the US intellectual property holders. Even if Asian firms like Ningbo Bird, mentioned in Wired as stealing Chinese market from US-based Motorola, much of their GDP goes into paying back borrowed technology.

Finally, I think one conclusion to draw from this is one that helps to calm the nerves of my anti-outsourcing/globalization friends. Obviously this article doesn't specifically call out moneys owed to US firms. Regardless, this trade deficit is compelling evidence that while certain types of occupations can, and therefore will be executed by the most effective provider, the spirit of American creativity is still holding a strong leadership position.