Long before there was a silicon valley in Sunnyvale, Calif., silicon alley in New Jersey produced some of the greatest inventions and scientific discoveries of the 20th century.

Geniuses and Nobel laureates such as Armstrong, Bardeen, Brattain, Edison, Einstein, Marconi, McAfee, Nyquist, Penzias, Shannon, Shockley and Wilson plied their trade in laboratories across New Jersey.

Inventions and discoveries such as the big bang theory, radio, radar, fiber optics, motion pictures, phonograph, television, transistors, lidar, lasers, nuclear fission and fusion, and computers were all discovered or invented by engineers and scientists at RCA, Bell Labs, Edison Labs and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey in the 20th century. At one point in time, Bell Labs was applying for and receiving one patent a day.

RCA no longer exists, Bell Labs is drastically reduced in size, and Fort Monmouth is scheduled to close in 2011. It was not that long ago that Fort Monmouth had 15,000 employees and Bell Labs had nearly that many in Monmouth County alone. Bell Labs has only a small satellite station left in Monmouth County.

How can the corporations, employees, taxpayers and politicians let New Jersey lose its greatest resource, the human mind? If a graduate student goes online today to look for jobs at Lucent Bell Labs, they will find hundreds of positions in India and China and very few if any in New Jersey. Our kids can look forward to working in the dollar store and casino because there is no viable scientific industry left in New Jersey.

New Jersey is no longer a producer of GM and Ford cars and trucks.

Trenton might as well take its famous sign down from the Delaware River Bridge which states, "Trenton Makes, The World Takes." Instead it can be replaced with "The World Makes, New Jersey Takes." Trenton used to be the world leader in industrial machinery, engines and turbines.

In 1967, New Jersey had no lottery, no casinos, no income tax and no sales tax, but had a balanced budget and a good standard of living and quality of life. In 2008, we have all kinds of taxes and gambling and a $30 billion deficit. This is three times the deficit in California with 33 million people, and seven times the deficit of New York with 19 million people.

We had better stop the industrial and scientific bleeding in New Jersey and provide incentives for corporations to stay or return. Otherwise our kids are in deep trouble. Hopefully, it is not too late.

Paul Sniffen resides in Rumson.