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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (707)	7/11/2008 7:04:54 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

As I've stated before, a quicker transition to alternatives would indeed be a larger upfront investment, but it would also ensure we secure a much larger share of the pie as the alternative energy industry grows. Yes, just as the fact that Ford started making cars more than 30 years before Toyota means that Ford is much more valuable and profitable than Toyota... Or that the early lead in television manufacturing means the US is raking in big bucks from this activity now... Or since your arguing for government investment and subisidies and targeted tax breaks - Its just like how the fact that the Fischer-Tropsch process was invented in Germany, and also Germany was the first country to have a large coal to liquid fuel industry, means that Germany is reaping huge profits from this type of action... Of course the reality is that being first (esp. being first because your doing an uneconomical activity do to government directing the investment), doesn't result in any future control of the profits in an industry. Making the "larger upfront investment", doesn't "secure a much larger share of the pie as the alternative energy industry grows", even if your up front investment is in things that will later turn out to be very profitable. And of course you can't assume that the early investment, esp. when driven by politics, will turn out to be in the appropriate technologies that dominate in the future.