Trump / FBI / Russians

For the sake of argument: How about during WW2? The gov't dumped s*** loads of money into nuclear technology, which the public and private sectors made billions off of.

Without that gov't money, there would be no nuclear energy, weapons, or medical technology.

Fast forward to the space race. Without that gov't money we would have no cell phones, gps, and countless lightweight composite materials developed by the military/NASA and made their way down to the private sector.

 

On August 5, 2018 I paid 3 Mexicans $600 to demo my kitchen. That’s $600 more than Mexico will pay for a wall

 

Are you comparing Trump to a Nazi?

 

Easy there Kyle-

 

Just like Trump eh Lance, can't take a joke

 

You're a pretty reasonable guy, from what I can tell. So, this is what I would say is a bit of cherry-picking on your part or, as you aptly put it, "for the sake of argument." No problema, all good, interesting topic & you have good insights.

I'll go along though only for a bit & with good reason. That being historical. It's a fair enough statement you made regarding govt growth of nuke power & nuke weaponry. Ah, but you leave out one important piece of my opinion, which is that private sector is the innovator & govt is the regulator.

Fission was initially identified in the late 1890's. By inventors in the private sector. True! It was expanded upon throughout the initial part of the 20th century, again in the private sector. And, the three scientists who wrote to FDR in 1942 warning him of the deadly power potential in wartime of nuclear energy were....in the private sector.

The FDR administration (govt) then took the technology & leveraged the unholy shiiite out of it with the Manhattan Project. Result: Little Boy & Fatman = the eradication of Hiroshima & Nagasaki & the end of WWII.

So, yes your point is taken but it's not 100% accurate. No, the govt didn't innovate - - they leveraged aka regulated

 

Your other point about govt money & the space program is true. The USA took the work of Nazi Germany's finest scientists from the 1930's & expanded upon it to eventually get a guy into space, although not as quickly as the Russians did with Gagarin.

In any event, you cite two things, space & nukes. I cited many - - govt is the exception, private sector the rule, when it comes to innovation across the centuries.

 

That seems idealistic as a sentiment. And not accurate, not based in facts. You paint with broad strokes.

Look at the Big Pharma corps. They put huge amounts into new product development. Very risky. And it doesn't always work out for them; they take huge losses. There's no reimbursement check when their years of research go up in the smoke of clinical trials. Private sector innovates; govt regulates.

Same with automotive, although the Recession kinda punctured that one when the socialists bailed out the Big 3 & others in other sectors.

Kindly tell me where your statement takes place, cause I cannot think of any example that fits your claim:

"This is where gov can and does play a role to help fund research until hopefully it becomes economically viable, then step back and let the free market take over."

 

Government doesn't innovate, they fund the innovation. Things like space exploration and nuclear power would have bankrupted 99.9% of any company or person that tried it in that era. It would have taken decades longer for its benefits to proliferate. Plus, the German government was spending mucho to get there also. So a socialist country would had eventually gotten their.

Space would be completely run by the ruskies without the government. And point about Gagarin only goes to show you that if we don't help the private sector on these paradigm shifting innovations, the commies can. Contrary to what you guys think.

Yes, the private sector innovates and we help fund the grand scale stuff as taxpayers. Anything aside from funding innovation from the Feds is them just getting in the way.

 

the Internet might fit that definition - see DARPA. but other gov/private ventures have paid off as well - the First Transcontinental Railroad comes to mind.

the concept needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis, but it does have its moments.

 

Yah, but my understanding of ‘the internet’ is that it was started as a govt mechanism that then morphed into private sector communication & private sector took it, engineered it & kept improving it with many iterations on the private sector dime over decades. When’s the last time the govt spent money to boost any aspect of the internet? Other than spying on us sheeple?

So, I take issue with his belief that the govt created the internet as a concept to become commercially viable & fostered it until private sector took it over & ran with it. That’s not at all the narrative of the reality.

 

Fake News, meet your match....

 

It's important to remember that all those destructive, nasty/vile, love baby killing (abortions) progressives/liberal, socialist, communist, Marxists,... open borders, Carbon TAX terrorists, Sharia law over our constitution,.... never dared to show their faces or even voice/[push their garbage, until they got that ha;f white man (OBAMA) in office, who hated/hates America. Bunch of Cult of Personality losers.

Hey Brah, Once RBG kicks the bucket, and Trump gets his pick, he's all yours. Mission Accomplished.

 

Would it shock you to learn that the govt funds 50% of all basic research conducted in this country? This number is slowly falling from it's high of 70% in the 60's and 70's, as corporate funded research rises -> https://www.sciencemag.org/news/201...t-share-basic-research-funding-falls-below-50

And as Kyle mentioned, govt is not innovating, they are funding the innovation.

 

Prolly coulda put this one under the What Are Listening To or the Scantily Clad threads...