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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (396967)	7/8/2008 5:09:51 PM
From: steve harris	Respond to of 1576686

Only problem is that you guys want to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. I'd say the democrats will do everything they can to use it to increase their power. Maxine Waters wasn't too far from the path they are on.

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (396967)	7/8/2008 10:32:05 PM
From: combjelly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576686

"CJ, it was one of the Carter's energy programs that caused "Black Sunday." " The movie? "And how economically viable was solar energy way back in the late 70's and early 80's?" It was borderline. At least the research should have been continued. Like the "power tower" that was prototyped. That was dropped until recently with other countries building on our work. So, they now have the lead. If we had kept working on it and perfected it, we'd be selling the technology to them. Now, likely, we will buy it from someone else. "You argue that it was a "billion dollar a year industry," yet how viable was it when it couldn't sustain itself?" That is what the article said. That is the whole point. It needed subsidies and tax breaks to solve the "chicken and egg" problem. We also were investing in a lot of other technologies. TI, for example, had a grant to develop spherical solar cells which could crack water into hydrogen and oxygen when immersed in water and exposed to sunlight. It was in a very early stage when funding was cut, so it was dropped. "Even now with all of the advances in solar energy, it still requires tons of government support." Tenchu, very little money went into solar energy research until very recently. It has been the province of universities for just about everyone except for Ovonics. If we had continued funding at a decent level for the past few decades, we likely would have had practical systems for a while. "you might want to read the 2nd link in its entirety, or at least skim through it." I read it. Again, the point you keep avoiding is this is more than an economic issue. It is one of national security. Sure, in retrospect, the gamble worked out. OPEC never tried it again and no other country had a revolution and disrupted supply. But that was more dumb luck than anything else. Prudent foresight would have pushed programs to wean us from foreign energy. And it wouldn't have cost all that much. What it would do is change the game. And the big companies hate that. "Like I said before, we'll get through the current "crisis." " Yadda, yadda, yadda. There are always reasons to stick your head in the sand. And, as long as we get lucky, great. But, I am not comfortable relying on being a "prospective lottery winner" to solve our problems. Not when a little investment can do it. But, whatever. My motto is more along the lines of "God helps those who help themselves". Or "luck favors the prepared". Depending on winning the lottery just doesn't cut it.