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How much do you think it costs to run a program like the 787? Shinkansen? Nuclear Reactors? Electric cars are much less capital-intensive than building multi-h
by rtpg 9y ago
How much do you think it costs to run a program like the 787? Shinkansen? Nuclear Reactors?
Electric cars are much less capital-intensive than building multi-hundred seat planes. There's obviously a spectrum of difficulty here, but we can make the capital requirements easier to have products that otherwise might take 20 years to exist, rather than 2.
Tesla only exists thanks to the grace of a billionaire who didn't want to spend his money on a private island in Hawaii.
- nickpp 9y agoThose programs cost that much exactly because governments are involved. The corruption and sheer inefficiency of a government balloons costs orders of magnitude. There are countless examples where human ingenuity and private entrepreneurship has found frugal solutions to complex problems but none where governments are involved. I do agree that with huge waste you can do in 2 years what would take 20, but I am not sure the cost is always worth it. Especially because that cost on the long term is a corrupt market on the long term, unable to function without further government interventions.
- alexasmyths 9y ago"There are countless examples where human ingenuity and private entrepreneurship has found frugal solutions to complex problems but none where governments are involved." Nobody is denying this. Nobody is saying that 'the government is the only source of innovation or should be managing the economy'. But there are many industries that would not exist without strategic involvement by state actors. Again - there are no 'big aircraft makers' in the entire world that are not backed by governments.