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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: axial who wrote (1582)	12/26/2000 7:53:45 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Hi Jim, It does seem to clearly be the case that the French model for a nuclear power system is the n'est plus ultra in the world. Folks in the U.S. seem to be constantly obsessed with re-inventing the wheel and dissing real leadership from national entities such as DOE. In this country, the mis-information that most citizens have is a cause for their hysteria. Why should this be? First of all, it is a failure of the nuclear industry itself to educate people. Instead, the industry has been notorious for its arrogance, secrecy and elitism. This is almost exactly mimicked in the GMO arena, where Monsanto, Pioneer Hi-Bred and the other creators of superior plant stocks have completely bolloxed the public relations end of things and given the Luddites the upper hand with their disingenuous "frankenfood" campaigns. Can the public be turned around anytime soon? Doubtful. They have a very healthy distrust of institutional veracity and the ability of government to orchestrate industrial policy. The most common mantra we heard this campaign season is that the U.S. does not have an energy policy. I don't believe that for a second. I believe we do have an energy policy, but that, as described by the Rhodes essay in Foreign Affairs, the priorities of DOE for basic research are completely misdirected at the most pie-in-the-sky sort of solutions, rather than honing in on the best and most likely candidates to solve real energy shortages and the perception of them that drive derivatives markets into such hysterical frenzies. It is interesting to see that the Governor of California is today meeting with Allan Greenspan and Lawrence Summers. Last week it was Bill Richardson. We seem to be rapidly escalating. It will be incumbent upon President-select GWB to get a grip on this California energy situation as soon as possible. As a former oilman, he certainly ought to have some friends who can give him some good advise. For him to sidestep the issue will only lead to a decline in his perceived power. For him to step up to the plate and force the parties to work toward a solution will be a real feather in his cap and an indication of his Presidential timbre. -Ray

To: axial who wrote (1582)	12/26/2000 9:30:50 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 46821

Jim, your views on France's standardization of nuclear power generation is intriguing to me. I immediately drew a set of comparisons concerning related issues in telecomms. Would you argue that an across-the-board standardization treatment of telecommunications, right down to the vendor and apparatus levels, is equally imperative to that of power generation in France? Or, because of the differences with regard to safety issues, they are different, and telecom should continue to "enjoy" a diverse, pluralistic existence, fostered by innovation, and in the case of the Internet, experimentation? In another post on LMT I began to explore - but held back, for some inexplicable reason - what the effects of unrestricted competition has done to an otherwise achievable level of efficiency in the wireless technologies, due to a limited amount of available spectrum and the high number of purveyors carving it up in different and nonconstructive (perhaps destructive) ways. Do you see a set of issues here that are similar to those of nuclear power generation? I'm interested in reading your views, as well as Ray's and others', on this. FAC