Quote:
|
Originally posted by Rick Lee ...there have been plenty in other areas which are more deserving of taxpayers' money. Money flows where there is the greatest chance of return or success. Don't you think VC guys and/or drug companies would be lining up to fund ESC research if they thought there something there?
|
Can we put aside the tax/no tax argument for a moment ?
Tax spending is a "social contract" based upon legislative power. Taxes are pooled and then legislatures decide how and on what to fund with taxes according to constituents. As members of a representative government society, we agree to support things communally that we may not support individually. I may not want corn conglomerates (ADM) to get federal subsidies but my taxes go to that anyway - even though I have an ethical problem with giant corporations getting tax break designed for individual farmers. Its a trade off I'm willing to accept because I like the government spending my tax dollars on NASA and other science programs.
But in terms of raw, basic r&d, Rick, nostatic has it right. VC will not fund raw r&d. VC will not spend billions on atom splitting. VC will not spend millions on fisheries research, etc. etc. Most social and cultural infrastructure through history has been government funded - simply because the payoff was invisible at the time of the investment. Or the payoff was not in cash/ROI.
These are things that only governments are good at. It is false economics to apply capitalist theory to government activity. Government and governing is neither fundamentally profitable nor is it meant to be.