Guest
Transportation solutions by nature require large 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, just ain't a job for
basement entrepreneurs.
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 what was driving looneytarian political thought more
than Milt. Friedman.
DeTocqueville once bumed 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.
Regardless of cause and effect and algae yield claims, however, the
high tech business model won't get us off oil and Rove decided
jingoism was an easier sell than 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 transportation on the
grid be a fortuitous dovetail?
Or is economic reality once again really what is behind the changes in
popular thought? The so called "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 either 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 country 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)
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, just ain't a job for
basement entrepreneurs.
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 what was driving looneytarian political thought more
than Milt. Friedman.
DeTocqueville once bumed 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.
Regardless of cause and effect and algae yield claims, however, the
high tech business model won't get us off oil and Rove decided
jingoism was an easier sell than 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 transportation on the
grid be a fortuitous dovetail?
Or is economic reality once again really what is behind the changes in
popular thought? The so called "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 either 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 country 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)