Should the government use tax money to fund research on new technologies that can make live better? There are many technological advances being made in the next 10 to 15 years. From autopilot for cars, which companies like Ford and Volkswagon claim will be ready in as little as 10 years, and less if they can get more money for testing, to commercial space travel which could be available in as little as 20 years. Should tax money be used to help fund them?
Absolutely not except for military research. Government just spends too much money and gets in the way of progress. The best thing Obama did was scrap the Space Shuttle Program and turn it over to private business.
Well the technologies you reference sound like a waste to me anyways. I do think government can have a clear purpose funding new technologies especially their infrastructure like internet, GPS, and power grids. But without a doubt they can waste money purposefully or by accident. All research and development in my opinion though should be scrutinized by the public.
Yes they should!!! nASA for gods sake!!!! Why did we stop trying? Dreaming? We put a robon on Mars, sent a Voyager outside the solar system. We stopped dreaming Invest in R and D, that's what South Korea did toget out of their recession
Solyndra. Chevy Volt. Government is too good at picking losers. Did someone sleep through the fall of the USSR?
Yes. When the tax money pays for itself or even brings profit, the government expense is justified. I am sure this is the case with most R&D expenses. It is one of the best uses of taxpayer money.
The time for government investment in R & D is not now because we have to borrow money from China to do it.
Yes, to the point of proving the feasibility, then private companies take over. They will radically speed up the advances once government has shown it possible. That would be one of the best uses of our tax money to the long term advantage of us all.
Oh yes, let's invent more new ways to kill. What private company took over the shuttle program? We have no program that I am aware of. We dropped out. We can hope that China will take up the challenge.
The problem with scrutiny by the public is the belief they can make reasoned decisions. Reading some of these posts makes me question that belief. We certainly cannot trust politicians as most have been bought off.
Most of the money we borrow is from ourselves. Roughly speaking, about 2/3 of the money we owe is owed to Americans. 1/3 is foreign sources. China owns about 7% of our debt, as does Japan. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2014/10/28/who-owns-the-most-u-s-debt/ - - - Updated - - - The reason for the internet and GPS was military. The internet is a direct outgrowth of DARPAnet. GPS was similarly military (and is still controlled by the military).
Well, let's take a look at the record. Government investment and subsidies built the Transcontinental Railroad and the Erie Canal. When Marconi first demonstrated primitive radio transmission, the Royal Post offered him a generous contract and a monopoly, Within a decade radio had linked ships at sea and crossed oceans. The US got into the game by creating a patent pool for radio patents, partcularly the audion tube, superhetrodyning and the regenerative circuit. Companies operating within the government established pool created radio networks, television, stereo, FM radio and the coaxial cable. The US had no commercial aviation business before the US mail began offering conrtracts to private operators who set up regular services on awarded routes. The first three, TAT, (later TWA) United Air Transport and American Airline were the grandaddies of the US airline industry. Those subsidies allowed the industry to go from single seat biplanes to all metal winged 21 seat monoplanes powered by radial engines by WWII, when the American aircraft companies were the world leaders in commercial aircraft. Neither the computer industry nor the internet would exist were it not for government financed research and subsidies, which went on for decades before the industry as we know it today started to emerge. Government investment in road construction created a vast industry to build and maintain it, as well the commercial trucking industry. That's just a few off the top of my head. The technologies that have driven the rise of communications, transportation and information management have been well beyond the capabilities of private industry to finance on their own. In every case, these technologies have taken decades to mature, and have all depended on heavy investments in research and subsidies from goverment to get on their feet. The question is a no brainer.
