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Originally Posted by billyruffn
I would hope we are wise enough to leave the process of "picking winners" to corporations and venture capitalists. No one (aside from environmentalists and NIMBYs) is keeping private capital from investing in wind, solar and other alternative energy sources. If the demand is there, and if investors believe that future returns (including any subsidies politicians might be dumb enough to offer) are at or above the cost of capital, resources will be invested in alternative energy.
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It would be great if we were wise enough to do that, but we have not been. There have been billions of dollars of tax credits given to oil companies for domestic production. The ethanol tax credits started by the last administration caused massive spikes in food prices, besides the fact that the ethanol production was inefficient.
When the President and VP are both Oil Men First Class, it is tough to imagine that these massive energy interests don't control a lot of the debate.
Government should not pick the winners - but government should not squash innovation in favor of directions which are harmful to the country. Government (as mentioned before) did also have a BIG hand in the automobile (road/bridges), the railroad (transcontinental) and other such technologies.
As you well know, VCs and Business are somewhat risk-adverse. It is a bad business proposition to spend a decade creating alternative energy technologies and then have the rug pulled out from under you by $20 a bbl oil. If oil was produced here and did not create pollution and CO2, that might not present a problem. But government is supposed to help do what is good for US...as a sum total. I think most Americans agree that energy security is part of that.
Most of the above is water over the dam anyway, since I think we have passed the point of no return. I listen to a lot of audio programs dealing with VC and current innovation, and VAST percentages of the current bets are on Energy. We will see major changes over the next 10-20 years - positive ones - as these changes hit the market.