B
Bret Cahill
Guest
Transportation solutions by nature require federally funded projects,
i. e., the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System (originally $50
billion) or the Transcontinental Rail Road (originally 4X the entire
federal budget).
Electrifying roads and rail, unfortunately, ain't a job for basement
entrepreneurs.
DeTocqueville once bummed a night's stay at the Pennsylvania estate of
a former French Revolutionary turned capitalist and was stunned at how
easily personal success influences POV. Now with 20-20 hindsight it
seems Reaganomics / Thatcherism may have been more of an effect than a
cause. The nature of the info revolution was driving looneytarian
political thought more than Milton Friedman.
Regardless of cause and effect and algae yield claims, however, the
high tech business model won't get us off oil and Rove realized
something had to replace getting rich quick with the Gipster at least
a decade ago.
So the philosophical question du jour is:
Would jump starting the economy while getting surface transportation
on the grid be a fortuitous dovetail?
Or is economic reality once again really what is behind the changes in
popular thought? A "fortuitous" dovetail would happen _every single
time_.
Bret Cahill
"It was therefore strange and astonishing to hear him talk like an
economist -- I almost said a landowner -- about the rights of
property; he spoke of the necessary hierarchy that wealth establishes
among men, of obedience to the established law . . . and it even
happened that he inadvertently quoted the authority of Jesus Christ in
support of one of his political opinions.
"I listened and marveled at the feebleness of human reason. A thing
is true or false; but how can one find out amid the uncertainties of
knowledge and the diverse lessons of experience? A new fact may come
and remove all my doubts. I was poor, and now, look, I am rich; if
only prosperity, while affecting my conduct, would leave my judgment
free! In fact, my opinions do change with my fortune, and the lucky
circumstances of which I take advantage really do provide that
decisive argument I could not find before."
.. . .
"In proportion as a nation becomes more industrialized, it feels a
greater need for roads, canals, ports, and other semipublic works
which aid the growth of wealth. The more democratic the nation is,
the harder it is for private people to undertake such works and the
easier it is for the state to do so. I say confidently that there is
a clear tendency for all governments now to undertake such matters on
as their sole responsibility . . .
"On the other hand, as the power of the state grows and its needs
increase, the state itself consumes an ever-greater proportion of the
industrial output, which is generally manufactured in its own arsenals
and factories. Thus in every kingdom the government becomes the
leading industrialist. It draws into its service and retains therein
a vast number of engineers, architects, technicians, and craftsmen.
"Not only is the government the leading industrialist, but it tends
also to become the chief, or rather the master, of all the others."
-- Alexis DeTocqueville _Democracy In America_ (1833)
i. e., the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System (originally $50
billion) or the Transcontinental Rail Road (originally 4X the entire
federal budget).
Electrifying roads and rail, unfortunately, ain't a job for basement
entrepreneurs.
DeTocqueville once bummed a night's stay at the Pennsylvania estate of
a former French Revolutionary turned capitalist and was stunned at how
easily personal success influences POV. Now with 20-20 hindsight it
seems Reaganomics / Thatcherism may have been more of an effect than a
cause. The nature of the info revolution was driving looneytarian
political thought more than Milton Friedman.
Regardless of cause and effect and algae yield claims, however, the
high tech business model won't get us off oil and Rove realized
something had to replace getting rich quick with the Gipster at least
a decade ago.
So the philosophical question du jour is:
Would jump starting the economy while getting surface transportation
on the grid be a fortuitous dovetail?
Or is economic reality once again really what is behind the changes in
popular thought? A "fortuitous" dovetail would happen _every single
time_.
Bret Cahill
"It was therefore strange and astonishing to hear him talk like an
economist -- I almost said a landowner -- about the rights of
property; he spoke of the necessary hierarchy that wealth establishes
among men, of obedience to the established law . . . and it even
happened that he inadvertently quoted the authority of Jesus Christ in
support of one of his political opinions.
"I listened and marveled at the feebleness of human reason. A thing
is true or false; but how can one find out amid the uncertainties of
knowledge and the diverse lessons of experience? A new fact may come
and remove all my doubts. I was poor, and now, look, I am rich; if
only prosperity, while affecting my conduct, would leave my judgment
free! In fact, my opinions do change with my fortune, and the lucky
circumstances of which I take advantage really do provide that
decisive argument I could not find before."
.. . .
"In proportion as a nation becomes more industrialized, it feels a
greater need for roads, canals, ports, and other semipublic works
which aid the growth of wealth. The more democratic the nation is,
the harder it is for private people to undertake such works and the
easier it is for the state to do so. I say confidently that there is
a clear tendency for all governments now to undertake such matters on
as their sole responsibility . . .
"On the other hand, as the power of the state grows and its needs
increase, the state itself consumes an ever-greater proportion of the
industrial output, which is generally manufactured in its own arsenals
and factories. Thus in every kingdom the government becomes the
leading industrialist. It draws into its service and retains therein
a vast number of engineers, architects, technicians, and craftsmen.
"Not only is the government the leading industrialist, but it tends
also to become the chief, or rather the master, of all the others."
-- Alexis DeTocqueville _Democracy In America_ (1833)