The COMPETES Act "...represents a major milestone on this Nation’s path to building an innovation economy for the 21st century—an economy that harnesses the scientific and technological ingenuity that has long been at the core of America’s prosperity and applies that creative force to some of the biggest challenges we face today. Whether it’s developing new products that will be manufactured in America, or getting and using energy more sustainably, or improving health care with better therapies and better use of information technology, or providing better protection for our troops abroad and our citizens at home, innovation will be key to our success. And that is exactly what the COMPETES Act is all about."
from "America COMPETES Act Keeps America's Leadership on Target "
Nations don't "compete", "build", "innovate", "harness", etc - they are collectivist abstractions that don't really exist. All of those things come from individuals and their voluntary organizational structures (aka "corporations"). Individuals don't produce competitive economic benefits because of their czars in Washington or wherever else, but in spite of them, and regions where the czars are most restrained are always the most prosperous.
ReplyDeleteFrom health care to education to quality assurance and even self-defense, rational individual self-interest is always better than some dogma of economic creationism, whether it is called fascism, communism, democracy, or whatever else.
So, Alex, how much rat meat would you like in your hot dog? Or perhaps how much of a percentage of ground up workers' fingers would you be willing to stomach in your food? For a start, you should read Sinclair's "The Jungle". (currently available at http://www.archive.org/stream/jungle00sincgoog#page/n4/mode/2up) It gives some idea what meat packing was like before govt regulation ... when there was nothing to rely on other than the corporation's concern for quality assurance.
ReplyDeleteAs to innovation, most products on the market today have benefited from research -- from innovation -- sponsored by DARPA, NASA, NIH, and other govt agencies. Hand-held power tools? Partially from NASA. Everything having to do with the Internet? Partially from DARPA. Most medicines that are still under patent? NIH. The patent protections that allow companies to actually benefit from the money they put into developing new things? That's govt too.
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