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It’s Time to Build

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Re: It’s Time to Build

#51

Post by wbl »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #25
MattGaiser wrote: post #8

You are a billionare Marc. You are probably one of the top 1000 people with the capacity to build in North America. So, how many of the things you list are you building?

Governments need to lead on this. I am not sure how corporations can do this without just donating their infrastructure or profits (which would be a great thing to do!). But even then their profits pale in comparison with the money the governments have at hand to spend on these things. An investor can only invest in building things for which there are demand, and for things that benefit society at large that demand u…

You think people don't ordinarily need PPE or ventilators? Or any other thing that we used to make?

Re: It’s Time to Build

#52

Post by MattGaiser »

WoahNoun wrote: post #19
MattGaiser wrote: post #8

You are a billionare Marc. You are probably one of the top 1000 people with the capacity to build in North America. So, how many of the things you list are you building?

The entire article is about top down resource allocation to build society. That can't be accomplished by any single person, organization or state. Yours is a hopelessly cynical response that I hope you will reflect a little deeper on.

The entire laundry list can't be accomplished by one person. Can many of those things be done on a smaller level by a billionaire with his connections and skills? Absolutely.

Could he build just one state of the art dreadnaught factory to supply X for California? Yes.

Could he give a university a team of top-notch developers to create an on-demand bachelor's curriculum that could accommodate a million learners simultaneously? Yep. He could even go to Harvard and do that! They would take his call a heck of a lot faster than they would take mine.

I am not demanding that he do everything. Just that he start to lead the way.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#53

Post by MattGaiser »

quickthrower2 wrote: post #25
MattGaiser wrote: post #8

You are a billionare Marc. You are probably one of the top 1000 people with the capacity to build in North America. So, how many of the things you list are you building?

Governments need to lead on this. I am not sure how corporations can do this without just donating their infrastructure or profits (which would be a great thing to do!). But even then their profits pale in comparison with the money the governments have at hand to spend on these things. An investor can only invest in building things for which there are demand, and for things that benefit society at large that demand u…

PPE and ventilators are already supplied by private companies.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#55

Post by fastball »

jdhn wrote: post #3

While I'm pro nuclear power, at what point do we say that nuclear isn't the way to go? The cost of solar panels and batteries are declining every year, and you don't have to deal with the terrible stigma that nuclear power has. Sure, new reactors are "zero emission", but will people actually want them to be built?

I want nuclear power because I want humanity to be a space-faring civilization, and we can't do that with just solar panels and wind farms.

Why maintain the status quo with solar and wind when we can go far beyond it with nuclear?

Re: It’s Time to Build

#56

Post by jgalt212 »

fastball wrote: post #48
trimbo wrote: post #42

> Why shouldn’t regulators and taxpayers demand that Harvard build? Wait, wut? Last I checked, Harvard is a private institution. Besides, Harvard produces its graduates because they can be picky on who they can admit. Why would we assume that Harvard can scale to provide a "Harvard education" to someone who didn't qualify to make it in today?

Harvard is a private institution that is widely funded by government-backed loans. They are also a "non-profit" and so don't pay property taxes even though they have a ludicrously-sized endowment fund which certainly accrues a lot of "profit".

true for most every college (private and public)

Re: It’s Time to Build

#57

Post by kizer »

I share some of the sentiment, but only demand and necessity will drive “building”. An energized or optimistic citizenry surely helps, but to kick innovation into high gear we need a Cold War or something. A crisis where we can go outside at least - this virus really has deflated some of the American spirit it feels like. Sort of stuck in this limbo where everyone wants to rally and help but the touted best way to help is to stay inside. A lot of pent up energy in me at least; perhaps Marc is channeling a bit of his own.

Re: It’s Time to Build

#59

Post by kortilla »

covidacct wrote: post #46

> I expect this essay to be the target of criticism. Here’s a modest proposal to my critics. Instead of attacking my ideas of what to build, conceive your own! What do you think we should build? There’s an excellent chance I’ll agree with you. What we need to build is the capacity to make investments in building backstops against low-prob, high-risk, collective risks. For almost all of those risks, the problem isn't…

That’s not an idea for building, that’s just an idea for the government getting more money. The government clearly doesn’t actually need the money when it cares to do something (based on the stimulus bill and the last decades of deficits).
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