The second presidential debate between President Obama and Governor Romney this week covered some topics that we haven’t seen in the press as regularly as taxes, including tech.  While many may feel tech is an off-the-cuff topic for a presidential debate when the economy’s still troubled, tech is in fact an integral aspect of the US job market, as well as government spending.

SiliconAngle founder John Furrier discussed some of the latest news developments as they pertain to tech as a whole on the News Desk program this week, starting with the most recent presidential debate (full video below).

Furrier tackles the most recent presidential debate particularly as it pertains to the two candidates’ different takes on small businesses. He says that new technologies such as big data analytics are radically changing the way business is done, and the government will have to adapt regulation accordingly in order to maintain a strong economy.

One of the most notable questions from the audience during the debate was whether or not outsourced manufacturing jobs are coming back, and if they should in the first place. Furrier thinks that the answer is yes,  and he says offering favorable economic conditions is the means to accomplish that.

Apple and other major tech firms have resorted to Chinese labor because they have to stay competitive on the bottom line. This probably won’t change any time soon, but more jobs can be created in the U.S if the government reduces corporate tax and offers incentives to brands that hire locally.

Furrier’s final observation about the debate is that there wasn’t all that much talk about how IT is reshaping almost every single core vertical, from retail to media. But while this key subject may not be getting all the attention it deserves today, that will undoubtedly change in the future.

The second part of the interview focuses on the Q3 earnings call IBM and Intel published this week.

Big Blue met or exceeded every analyst expectation with a profit of $4 billion on revenue of $23 billion. Furrier says that the company is very well positioned in the enterprise across all three segments – hardware, software, and services.

Intel also beat forecasts, a positive milestone, even though analysts’ lowered expectations last month. Furrier notes, however, that while the chipmaker has seen a slump in the past quarter, it’s very well situated in its own verticals: the cloud, mobile, and high-performance computing.  At the end of the day, IBM and Intel share the same bright outlook.