tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post4068863138157679204..comments2023-12-05T07:50:19.855-05:00Comments on No Oil for Pacifists: Smart Men, Dumb Solar Choices@nooil4pacifistshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16688417615117569825noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-90608639169697685392011-10-09T15:23:10.520-04:002011-10-09T15:23:10.520-04:00>>> Though green zealots hoped that would...>>> <i>Though green zealots hoped that would change</i><br /><br />Also, you kind of understate what I showed -- not only was it NOT economical, I pretty much showed that it was defacto NOT POSSIBLE for it to become economical.<br /><br />So "hoping that would change" is the equivalent of hoping that the sky would turn to a steady and consistent puce color, or that water would flow uphill for a bit...O Bloody Hellnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-32327415725301969702011-10-07T06:38:33.567-04:002011-10-07T06:38:33.567-04:00BTW, you can also argue that the shambles the curr...BTW, you can also argue that the shambles the current space program is in is entirely due to that EARLY manipulation by the Fed.<br /><br />There was a natural progression planned to get us into space using the various "x-craft" type development that would have lead to horizontal take off and landing craft, rather than the quick-fix man-on-a-missile approach that the early program used.<br /><br />Money that would and perhaps should have gone into craft development was instead siphoned into making the Apollo launch vehicle, which, while an amazing machine and one of humanities' finest accomplishments, was still a defacto dead-end.<br /><br />It also led to the boondoggle of a shuttle, which, also being a vertical take-off vehicle hasn't paid much for development in that HTOHL capability. This siphoned off still MORE money that might have been used to give us a permanent space presence by making pounds-to-orbit far less expensive.<br /><br />So, as successful an example of "government investment" paying for itself, the space program is also a cautionary tale about diversion of investment and the warping effect of the government on naturally developing markets and technologies.<br /><br />We might actually BE at "2001" and beyond if it weren't for Apollo. I doubt it, but who knows...? We'd certainly not be unable to put a man in space without some other nation's help at this point, I'd wager. <br />>:-SOBloodyHellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09992539380115488567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6427940.post-42592809712527125142011-10-06T09:27:08.480-04:002011-10-06T09:27:08.480-04:00>>> And lefties argue that government sho...>>> <i>And lefties argue that government should subsidize where the private sector can't or won't</i><br /><br />When it's just a matter of simple risk, but with exceptional reward... or the term of the risk (i.e., the payoff is far enough off that private capital won't go after it because there's perceived equivalent money to be made in the shorter term)... THEN this idea makes some semblance of sense.<br /><br />The space program was just such an example, and it paid off well despite the current shambles it is all in.<br /><br />But for anything in the short term, the idea of government "investing" is flat out stupid. If investors won't go for it in the short term, it's because people who are experts and making risk and reward analysis -- tested experts who have been right far more often than wrong -- have decided that IT'S A BAD BET -- usually a VERY bad bet, or else there'd just be a greater ROI offered.<br /><br />This whole notion that the government should do it when private industry says "thanks, but no thanks" is a product of sheer, flat out dunderheaded lack of any kind of comprehension of how investing works, and why it works the way it does.<br /><br />Why the hell does anyone listen to the economic ideas of dunderheaded incompetents? One might just as well be a die-hard socialist 20 years after the fall of the USS... oh, wait. :-SOBloodyHellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09992539380115488567noreply@blogger.com