Green energy sounds really good, but is it economically viable? Is the technology still far in the future?

One could go on to talk about the U.S. government’s support for nanotechnology 19 and renewable energy 20, among other programs. None of these government programs is a secret. Indeed, prominent corporate executives lobby for them 21 (and you won’t find the Tea Party attacking them).

Yet there is a widespread belief that the U.S. government plays at most a regulatory role in the economy. Recent research has exposed this myth. In “State of Innovation: The U.S. Government’s Role in Technology Development 22,” based on a project funded by the Ford Foundation, Fred Block and Matthew R.

Keller have thrown the spotlight on the “invisible” developmental state. Also attacking the myth is a pamphlet, “The Entrepreneurial State 23,” produced by Mariana Mazzucato, my colleague in projects funded by the European Commission and the Institute for New Economic Thinking. In a similar vein, the Breakthrough Institute 24 has documented the history of U.S. government support for technology and innovation.

Based on research on the microelectronics and biotech industries, I have argued that entrepreneurial ventures such as those found in Silicon Valley and many other U.S. high-tech districts could not exist without the U.S. developmental state 25.So why has the role of the state in the development of the U.S. economy been hidden from view? No doubt, many leading free market ideologues are just ignorant of U.S. history. But it’s more than that.

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, often with the Cold War as a motivation, business interests both provided a fairer share of taxes to support developmental expenditures by the U.S. government and invested complementary corporate resources in physical equipment and human capital in the United States. Today, business interests remain happy to have the government spend this money, but they refuse to pay a fair share of the taxes to support it 26, while the business investments in productive capability that build on U.S. government spending on science and technology are increasingly being made overseas. Meanwhile, the prime type of corporate investment within the United States over the past two decades has been the stock buyback 27.

Trillions have been spent jacking up stock prices and, in the process, inflating executive pay 28. Yes, America has an investment problem. But the problem is big business, not big government.

Max20characters 47 months ago.

Unfortunately, look into the history of taxpayer's supporting corporate welfare projects that never end and only hurt us - don't invest in the future. Then come back and chat. But don't unless you really have looked into the history of government support of the technologies that have built this country.

If you're not willing to do that, there's nothing really to talk about. Max20characters 52 months ago.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.