Can we get some sacrifice for fusion projects? War bonds?

Discuss funding sources for polywell research, including the non-profit EMC2 Fusion Development Corporation, as well as any other relevant research efforts.

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MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

Do we need to have Obama declare a war on Energy?
Only if you want to lose it.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

Billy Catringer
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Post by Billy Catringer »

How about "peace bonds' instead of war bonds. Yo! Americans! Ya want peace in your lifetime? Then quit giving money to people who want you dead or enslaved. Invest in fusion instead of oil.

Have you noticed how abominably silly our government is? We declare war on poverty; we declare war on drugs; we declare war on FUD and, here of late, we have been threatening to declare war on obesity.

It's informative to take a hard look at what we do NOT declare war on. We have never declared war on Iraq, even though we have invaded that country twice. We never declared war Vietnam. We never really declared war on Korea, yet we never have ended that "police action" with a fully fledged peace treaty.

If our governors cannot keep things this important straight, what are we to trust them with? The country is being run by the denizens of Madison Avenue and the worst collection of shysters, used-car salesmen and ne'er-do-wells we can find to elect. Worse, I have watched their average IQ drop precipitously over the last ten years on C-Span. They are so bad now, Queen Pelosi being the dullest knife in the Speaker's Seat in twenty years, they are limiting C-Span's coverage of them. They are embarrassed by their own behavior. They KNOW that they are bunch of screw ups.

If you want to get serious about funding this thing, it will be necessary to sell stock. To sell stock, you have to prove you have something that will work. Hopefully, Doctor Nebel will be releasing said proof for public view sometime this year.

I apologize for the rant, but I am at my limit with the politicians. They grow increasingly useless with the passing of each and every day.

Helius
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Post by Helius »

MSimon wrote:
Do we need to have Obama declare a war on Energy?
Only if you want to lose it.
The ONLY people who complain about renewable energy are those that realize it won't have a real impact, except drain the wallet. Given huge money spent on Sunshine and Breeze energy, Solid fuel, once-through Nuclear will grow by a third, Coal will grow by a third, and oil revenues will grow by a third.... With renewables, no rice bowls get broken. Everybody "wins" except the nation. Where's Steven Chu?

MSimon
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Post by MSimon »

With renewables, no rice bowls get broken. Everybody "wins" except the nation.
How true. According to Greens no nation can be a winner with a 24/7 electrical supply. What is needed is intermittent sources of electrical energy that costs 3X as much as the current detested resources. Show me a nation with an intermittent electrical supply and I will show you a winner.

The Brits are very smart. They are cutting back on coal and going renewable. Their grid is expected to show a severe outage problem around 2010. This is good. They will be winners.

One little minor point. If government subsidies for renewables ever stops the industry is in deep trouble. When Europe stopped subsidizing solar the market collapsed. And even that does not matter. There is not enough production capacity to meet new demands let alone replace other forms of generation.

So what is stopping us from investing in production? The technology has no economic advantage and new technologies are likely to make any investment obsolete in 10 years. You don't build a production facility with a 10 year life for technology that produces economic losses.

Renewables are a political technology. A new administration might have other priorities. Thus the investment has a political risk not just a market risk.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.

Billy Catringer
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Location: Texas

Post by Billy Catringer »

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Granma is fightin' off the Black Hats with broom handle:

http://www.fool.com/investing/internati ... ucket.aspx

$1.02 x 10^13 in NEW debt. Mind you, Republicans and Democrats alike are responsible for this nightmare. Senator Lindsey Graham even suggested that nationalizing the banking industry might be a good idea on This Week with George Stephanflopolis two weeks ago. He said that while being co-guest with Maxine Waters for crying out loud! Maxine Waters grinned and said, "We've come a long way." Somebody ought to make her wear a Darth Vader Mask while on TV.

Capitalism? Pshaw! Gollee! Son-of-a-gun! Capitalism died during the Kennedy Administration, boys and girls. We really are becoming fascists while spouting Marxist slogans. Ayn Rand was right and the recent news headlines are right out of Atlas Shrugged.

Helius
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Run Amok

Post by Helius »

We have Keynesian Economics run amok.

It no longer matters what you do or what you accomplish. It is only important that you keep busy, and get paid. It's seen, therefore a winning proposition that we shovel money "out there", no matter what for. Just spread it around, aimless and without clear accomplishment or noble goal; It's Just as good as with accomplishment.

We see this post Keynesian philosophy now with Energy too. It doesn't matter that we accomplish NOTHING with these massive expenditures on "clean energy", we just keep people busy and they get paid. We thus end up with Madison Avenue spin on concepts of "sustainability" and "Clean Coal". Are we all to live in $500,000 south facing houses in Snowmass Co?

We'll be fine so long as we keep busy and get paid. Accomplishment is meaningless and without real value. Welcome to post Keynesian America.

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