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This thing where the government funds R&D for private corporations and then the corporations get to keep all the profits because tHey tAkE AlL tHe RiSk is prett

This thing where the government funds R&D for private corporations and then the corporations get to keep all the profits because tHey tAkE AlL tHe RiSk is pretty amazing. I'm a stockholder in several fortune 50 companies except my stock is non-voting, doesn't pay dividends, I don't get to pick which stock I buy and I don't ever get to sell it or borrow against it.

Neonlicht 2y ago
As I understand it the US government is why every American home- from the deserts in Nevada to the mountains in Virginia- has electricity. And that investment has paid for itself a million times over.
- BrianGragg 2y ago
  As a loan and not subsidies/grant. A ton of rural nonprofit electric cooperatives started out of this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act
- ghaff 2y ago
  Every is a bit of an overstatement. Generators in some places are a thing. (And so are fairly large areas without houses.) But generally, yes, also subject to the caveats in another comment. Satellite broadband does seem to be the "hack" for making locations that don't have broadband or really usable cell coverage in many cases practical.
  - lowmagnet 2y ago
    Sorry but it's not satellite broadband, it's the same rural electrification that is the "hack". My electric cooperative rolled out fiber to every address in the 3-county region it covers. It did so within a year. How? They already run poles everywhere, so they asked "why should we bury fiber?" As it turns out, it's easier to scale out on the pole!
- reverendsteveii 2y ago
  Yeah but now they're funding multiple independent private space programs with my money and I'm not gonna get even one rocket out of the deal.
ubnvfft 2y ago
Also mind you when that “risk” comes knocking it results in mass layoffs. So who really took on that risk? The csuites or the wage workers?
- reverendsteveii 2y ago
  The csuites who will vote themselves golden parachutes, the stockholders who got paid dividends this whole time and then will file for bankruptcy and settle their debts for whatever the company happens to own right now, or the people that lose their salary and house?

Neonlicht 2y ago

As I understand it the US government is why every American home- from the deserts in Nevada to the mountains in Virginia- has electricity. And that investment has paid for itself a million times over.

BrianGragg 2y ago
As a loan and not subsidies/grant. A ton of rural nonprofit electric cooperatives started out of this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act
ghaff 2y ago
Every is a bit of an overstatement. Generators in some places are a thing. (And so are fairly large areas without houses.) But generally, yes, also subject to the caveats in another comment. Satellite broadband does seem to be the "hack" for making locations that don't have broadband or really usable cell coverage in many cases practical.
- lowmagnet 2y ago
  Sorry but it's not satellite broadband, it's the same rural electrification that is the "hack". My electric cooperative rolled out fiber to every address in the 3-county region it covers. It did so within a year. How? They already run poles everywhere, so they asked "why should we bury fiber?" As it turns out, it's easier to scale out on the pole!
reverendsteveii 2y ago
Yeah but now they're funding multiple independent private space programs with my money and I'm not gonna get even one rocket out of the deal.

ubnvfft 2y ago

Also mind you when that “risk” comes knocking it results in mass layoffs. So who really took on that risk? The csuites or the wage workers?

reverendsteveii 2y ago
The csuites who will vote themselves golden parachutes, the stockholders who got paid dividends this whole time and then will file for bankruptcy and settle their debts for whatever the company happens to own right now, or the people that lose their salary and house?