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> So remember, Google may be touted as a quintessential Silicon Valley startup, but, like virtually all of them, it owes a lot to the work of the federal govern
by justinmk 8y ago
> So remember, Google may be touted as a quintessential Silicon Valley startup, but, like virtually all of them, it owes a lot to the work of the federal government.
Oh, right. The thing that sucks trillions of dollars out of the economy and then claims credit for anything it touched.
- solarkraft 8y agoThe thing that ... supported all that innovation and works hard (though it's currently not doing that great) at keeping the economy in check.
- justinmk 8y ago"Supporting innovation" is a low bar. It's easy to do that with lots of money, by allocating a small fraction to investment and wasting the rest. My point is that the cost isn't justified. Your point is "something happened, therefore it's worth the cost".
- solarkraft 8y agoI didn't even advocate for the government writing research grants (though I do think it's a good idea). I tried (perhaps badly) to point out that "The thing that sucks trillions of dollars out of the economy" is a terribly silly characterization for the federal government.
- kevinh 8y agoThe federal government runs on a deficit so it puts more money into the economy than it takes out.
- justinmk 8y agoI'm not sure what your point is. That deficit must be paid by value-creators, not the government--the same value-creators that were taxed in the first place.
- sp527 8y agoYou're so horribly wrong that you could convincingly make exactly the opposite argument, that the government (and by extension US taxpayers) are owed royalties.