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Maybe this'll help you understand - Musk is not getting venture capital, he's getting our money.

raheemm 17y ago
Government funding is needed to create new industries or spur innovation in nascent fields. Entire industries like online companies would not exist without DARPA funding of internet, fast food companies would not exist without govt. funding of the interstate. In light of the fact that Detroit got bailout money its perfectly sensible for the govt to invest in innovation within the auto industry.
- proee 17y ago
  I don't agree with this AT ALL. It's not the role of government to decide when to "fund" or "not fund" certain types of industries. Let the private sectors decide if that's a good idea or not. Do you agree with farm subsidies? Are you glad your tax dollar get spent on projects that may have no practical purpose because there's no market or products ready to use them?
  - tptacek 17y ago
    That sounds like an awfully naive version of how government works. What about DARPA grants to university research projects? Or NIH grants for medical research? What about speculative defense projects, like (to name a bad case) missile defense, or (a good one) unmanned aerial vehicles? The government "funds" and "doesn't fun" "certain industries" all the time. In fact, it even does what it's doing with Tesla in a smaller scale routinely, through the SBA process. The Tesla loan is a drop in the ocean compared to the SBA loan budget.
    - proee 17y ago
      I understand that the government funds lots of projects as you mention, my point is that I don't think the government should fun these types of projects and it's going beyond the intentions of the founders. I suppose I'm in the minority, having a small government is better than a fat government.
      - tptacek 17y ago
        I'd rather have an Internet and atorvastatin than an ideologically pure government. But that's just me.
  - lutorm 17y ago
    I hope you're not saying that the farm subsidies are meant to encourage new technology? If you are, what technology would that be?
    - proee 17y ago
      Actually, I was hoping to bring up farm subsidies as a failure of spending government money on something that should be handled via the private sector.
  - AlisdairO 17y ago
    The private sector is not a perfect allocator of resources. If we let the private sector alone decide where money went there would, for example, be very little funding for basic research.
michaelneale 17y ago
But is it the lesser of 2 evils that Tesla get some that would have otherwise gone to say, GM?

Government funding is needed to create new industries or spur innovation in nascent fields. Entire industries like online companies would not exist without DARPA funding of internet, fast food companies would not exist without govt. funding of the interstate. In light of the fact that Detroit got bailout money its perfectly sensible for the govt to invest in innovation within the auto industry.

proee 17y ago
I don't agree with this AT ALL. It's not the role of government to decide when to "fund" or "not fund" certain types of industries. Let the private sectors decide if that's a good idea or not. Do you agree with farm subsidies? Are you glad your tax dollar get spent on projects that may have no practical purpose because there's no market or products ready to use them?
- tptacek 17y ago
  That sounds like an awfully naive version of how government works. What about DARPA grants to university research projects? Or NIH grants for medical research? What about speculative defense projects, like (to name a bad case) missile defense, or (a good one) unmanned aerial vehicles? The government "funds" and "doesn't fun" "certain industries" all the time. In fact, it even does what it's doing with Tesla in a smaller scale routinely, through the SBA process. The Tesla loan is a drop in the ocean compared to the SBA loan budget.
  - proee 17y ago
    I understand that the government funds lots of projects as you mention, my point is that I don't think the government should fun these types of projects and it's going beyond the intentions of the founders. I suppose I'm in the minority, having a small government is better than a fat government.
    - tptacek 17y ago
      I'd rather have an Internet and atorvastatin than an ideologically pure government. But that's just me.
- lutorm 17y ago
  I hope you're not saying that the farm subsidies are meant to encourage new technology? If you are, what technology would that be?
  - proee 17y ago
    Actually, I was hoping to bring up farm subsidies as a failure of spending government money on something that should be handled via the private sector.
- AlisdairO 17y ago
  The private sector is not a perfect allocator of resources. If we let the private sector alone decide where money went there would, for example, be very little funding for basic research.

michaelneale 17y ago

But is it the lesser of 2 evils that Tesla get some that would have otherwise gone to say, GM?