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You can insult my reasoning as much as you like but my historical facts are plentiful and accurate.
I don't know what to say to that. Facts are meaningless without applying reason. It's how you think about the facts that matters, not the facts themselves.
But you should know that. I thought you were in academia or something like that.
Also, I'm *not* trying to insult you, I'm genuinely trying to point out that your arguments in support of various spending programs rely on a fallacy. You even resort to insulting others for simply understanding that your arguments are fallacious.
A typical exchange with you:
some poster:"Spending govt money on X is a waste".
you: "Are you crazy? the government invented [fill in here] due to their research on X. Do you want to live in a world without that invention?"
"Umm.. your reasoning there is pretty weak"
"You are a fool who doesn't know the facts".
Who's doing the insulting?
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hey hey hey let's get back on topic. the argument was that the gov could throw money at solar and give the RD a kick in the a** to get it going.
people say, hey gov is no good at going concerns (businesses), which is true, but RD it does have kinda a track record, including the computer, which was developed partially by the gov. well a lot by gov at beginning.
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Government has a pretty strong track record when it comes to solar as well. Despite the billions being spent by private industry on solar panel production almost all of the major breakthroughs are occurring with government funding:
Department of Energy NREL
http://www.energy.gov/news/4503.htm
http://www.news.com/Solar-cell-break...3-6141527.html
university of deleware/darpa
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9752692-7.html
The list goes on and on.
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can't argue with that I don't think. no one is saying the gov can run a computer biz or anything, just that they throw money at something, get it started (like computer), then private industry takes over and runs with it.
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This is my general opinion. Government excels at creating competition where there is no competition. Windows of opportunity are limited to areas where high initial investments are required such as developing novel technology or investing in projects with gigantic startup costs such as nuclear.
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by computer we're talking eniac or whatever, vacuum tube dealee.
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Integrated circuits (developed by NASA) are far more advanced than vacuum tube dealees
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Despite the spending solar is still nowhere competitive to oil and it MAY NEVER BE! There may be better forms of alternative energy or oil may remain competitive for a long time. How is government best suited to decide where and how much to invest? I could throw a trillion dolars at the Iraq War, that doesn't mean we are any safer then we were before. (I happen to support the Iraq War but I have a strong suspicion that those I am debating with don't.)