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

To: Brumar89 who wrote (6095)	3/13/2009 12:03:38 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

Perhaps. But I think the decision to invest in new technologies should be made by people (not bureaucrats or politicians) investing their own capital willingly, not because a politician or bureaucrat mandates they must. Would you have supported Lincoln building the transcontinental railroad? Eisenhower the interstate system? There are times when the value of an objective, to society as a whole, is greater than the value to an individual, independent investor.

To: Brumar89 who wrote (6095)	3/13/2009 1:00:52 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

I agree as a general rule, but governments have historically stepped in when there is a strategic national imperative. Energy sources rises to that need. Just as we want to maintain a robust manufacturing base so that we can develop military hardware, we need to develop new energy sources to diversify ourselves away from the risk of being dependent on our worst enemies for our national security and our prosperity. Then there is the economist's argument that the role of government is to create competition in the market place. For industries with high barriers to entry like energy, the market tendency is to create monopolies or oligopolies that stifle diversity of products and competition. Energy most certainly qualifies. Government's role in this case is to lower barriers to entry. There are many ways to do that including subsidies, lowering regulatory barriers and grants for R&D. All of these tools should be used towards renewable energy.