Interesting. I would like to check the historical data but for some reason I don't remember initial outlay by the government for the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, etc. Surely any further advances in any of these lines (which BTW would cover transportation, telecommunications, defense uses, etc) could be traced back to the original invention, all of which did not start by 'initial outlay' by the national government. So why did they do it? Could it have been to make money? Why that's capitalism. And we all know planned economies work so much better than a capitalistic venture. Some call it a version of socialism
Companies are obligated to their stockholders to MAKE MONEY. Pure research for knowledge sake often requires Gov funding. And that is in the interest of our national defense.
Wow, imagine that. Companies obligated to stockholders and to make money. Of course they wouldn't see a market to produce weapons without government funding. Heck, the government cuts them off there may never be a further advancement in gun technology, rocket technology, or even space exploration. Wait a minute, you need to go tell Branson and his cohorts that they can't claim the X Prize. They shouldn't have been able to get there without government help. What next? Future space exploration without government help?!? Can't be done. No company could see a profit in it. < /sarcasm>
Now government apparently is in the business of 'research for knowledge sake'. Build a multi-billion dollar telescope to look at the stars. Heaven knows what some star does and does not do must somehow be defensive. Maybe it's our early stages of 'spreading democracy' throughout the galaxy. If the national government does have a role one of its few purposes is for defense. Got to protect us from space aliens I guess. And yet somehow at one time, inventors still developed defensive and offensive weapons without government funding. And I thought conservatives believed government that governs least governs best. Silly me, that's an actual conservative position instead of a Republican one as evidenced by Bush's almost gleeful spending of my money
After a short re-reading of most of the Framers' papers, I'm sure you'll find even that most worthless Hamilton would be sickened at how much the citizens of the respective states look to the government for their pet projects
Fine. lets just dump all pure science while we are at it. We never should have funded Lewis and Clark, the Genome Project, the Manhattan Project, Project Apollo (or NASA in general), Scripps Research Institute, The VLA (NRAO), Fermi Labs, Brookhaven, any funding to a university, etc. The rest of the world will pass us by of course, but hey, it's in our best interests right?
59 - "Interesting. I would like to check the historical data but for some reason I don't remember initial outlay by the government for the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, the telephone, etc. Surely any further advances in any of these lines (which BTW would cover transportation, telecommunications, defense uses, etc) could be traced back to the original invention, all of which did not start by 'initial outlay' by the national government. "
Have you considered - Colombus, land grants, farming, post roads, libraries, rail roads, atomic power, interstate highways, airplanes (remember wright brothers were govt contractors).et al.
And that's just off the top of my head, I am sure if you think, you can find others - like rural electrification, crop rotation, contour plowing, air bags, etc.