Scobleizer - Latest Comments in The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

ionizd — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:06:32 -0000

Sorry for the double post, but I was concerned about space limitations.
One more point to tie things together in my last post;
That tax I was talking about? It also will be seen when the time comes to reinvest some of those evil profits. There will be less money to go around, and as we have seen frequently, the highest paid people and the big money shareholders rarely give up their loot when things get tight. Who loses? US! corporations usually won't take chances when money is tight. They tend to put their capital in safe investments like money markets, bonds etc... They won't grow their businesses, hire people new people to expand their operations or invest in R&D, at least not to the extent they would have if the government weren't trying to squeeze them for every tax dollar possible!
Yes, it is getting that bad here in the states. Ireland recently addressed their (formerly) slow economy by cutting tax rates and UNNECESSARY regulations for businesses. The last time I checked, it was paying off for them.
Why is innovation moving offshore? Because we have allowed our elected officials at the federal level to drive them off with their mismanagement and malfeasance. Believe me, they won't be crying the same rivers we will when it all comes crashing down- most of them are wealthy enough to weather the storms just fine.
What galls me the most is that while we see glaring examples of government incompetence and corruption all around us, some folks are just peachy with giving the government more power to mess up more of our lives. Did they screw up social security? Okay, let's give 'em the health care system. Let's give them CAFE standards. Let's give them Wall Street!
Let's give them... Innovation?

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

ionizd — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:30:55 -0000

Interesting topic, but as usual, people are prone to make their cases based on what they want the world to be like rather than the way it really is.
Innovation is driven by allowing the free market to come up with solutions to problems based on what the market determines to be cost effective. Sure, it would be nice to have miniature fusion generators buried under our houses to power our lives with a minimum of cost and hassle, but who can actually pull it off? That's the problem. Just as the religious right wing hard-core creationists refuse to acknowledge that a fundamental part of evolution theory is geological time spans- billions of years to see the effect of mutations on the survivability of the progeny, for example- so do the progressive minded individuals refuse to allow for technology to grow and mature over time. A few years ago I would have said that the timeframe for a major auto manufacturer to produce a hydrogen fuel cell car that can be mass produced for a reasonable cost would be at least decades away, yet Honda promises just that by 2012 (and California already has a small fleet of prototypes, I hear!). Even GM has something in the works for the near future- I saw a working prototype on a British TV show.
The reason? The market is clamoring for a solution to petroleum-based problems, and businesses are taking notice.
Let me tell you now what doesn't work. Taxing our corporations 35% on their profits? Unbelievable! What moron let that happen? We have the second highest corporate tax rate in the free world, and I would say enough is enough. Economics 101: If you tax a business, that tax is considered, "operating overhead,"- costs which are simply passed on to the consumers in the form of higher prices at the point of sale. That tax is also passed on to the shareholders in the form of lower returns on their investments. All of you folks clamoring for a windfall profits tax on the oil companies deserve a rash. Don't you know that a significant percentage of long- term investments (like your parents' retirement fund) are in energy stocks?

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Michael Fidler — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:55:29 -0000

I'm sorry for deviating off the original topic of science. I agree this is another fundamental problem that were facing. Judy Estrin, is correct in everything that she talks about, especially the part about education. You have had the opportunity to travel the world and see for yourself what other countries are doing. Japan is an excellent example when it comes to planning for the future. They are making great strides in specific areas, such as robotics. It is obvious now,that as a country they chose to dedicate a great amount of resources to ensure that they would be a key player in this field. They obviously intend to be the Silicon Valley of the robotics revolution. Other countries are trying to carve out their own niche. In the life and biosciences, we seemed to still have an advantage. If we don't educate all of our children to a higher standard than we currently do, we will have a limited talent pool to lead us forward. The only reason I mentioned the deficit, is because we cannot educate our children if we are broke. This country was built on innovation. Without it, we cannot grow. So as I said before, we have two problems that Washington is afraid to address. Fortunately, we have people like yourself, who are willing to discuss it and bring these issues into the light. Please, keep it up.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Michael Fidler — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:49:51 -0000

Robert,

Unfortunately there's not just one issue that can't be discussed, there's two. Both parties are afraid to discuss the national debt, which is approximately $50 trillion. For those of you that like to see things visually, let me show you. This Is what $50,000,000,000,000.00, looks like. We pay $3 billion dollars a day($3,000,000,000.00), just to service the interest on the debt. This is without even touching the principle.It kind of sound like the way most Americans, handle their personal debt. This of course is another looming crisis. If we started today to pay off the debt, it would cost every American $175,000.00. Currently, the United States government has zero dollars to pay off the debt. Now, if this is not the most critical issue facing this country, then I don't know what it is. What makes it worse is, both the Republican and Democratic party will not even bring it up!. It's kind of like the proverbial elephant in the living room. And, that's the political topic that must not be discussed in America.

By the way,if anybody doubts this, I'd be happy to supply an endless stream of facts and figures.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Blain — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:23:08 -0000

Agreed, Redfish. I did omit that, but there's two answers:

Spirit: Strong science and education is good for the welfare of the nation. Time and time again, it has been seen that a well-educated populace with advanced science is a good investment for both the economy (computers, cars, manufacturing) and defense (radar, weapons, medicine). Jefferson pushed for patents and copyright for this specific reason, and Ben Franklin certainly had good standing in both politics and science. George Washington's farewell address asks the country to "Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge."

Letter: A law certainly qualifies as a policy. Article I, section 8 is in the Constitution, and is directly mentioning responsibilities and powers of the federal gov't. In it, a responsibility enumerated is to set up laws to encourage science, arts, and other innovation.

"Please cite the Article or Amendment in the Constitution where is says it is either the President’s or the Federal Govt’s responsibility to establish “policies on innovation”."

Therefore, I am citing Article I, section 8 in the Constitution where it says it is the federal gov't's responsibility to establish policies, namely laws, on innovation.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

smithjr — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:07:25 -0000

Tom Friedman, for a good plan read, his opinion article in the Sunday New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008...

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

redfish — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 22:43:34 -0000

Blain

I think that the constitution allows it, but that clause specifically relates to the ability of government to have patent and copyright laws.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Blain — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:54:30 -0000

"Please cite the Article or Amendment in the Constitution where is says it is either the President’s or the Federal Govt’s responsibility to establish “policies on innovation”"

Article I, section 8, Powers of Congress

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" seems like a good hint.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Jerry — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:26:19 -0000

"Unless I shoulder the burden I suspect it will not come from schools and ambient experiences."

What's bad about you shouldering the "burden"?. It sure as hell isn't the President's or the Federal Govt's responsibility. Not sure what leads you to believe it won't be taught in schools.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Jerry — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 02:23:22 -0000

Robert, you REALLY need to avoid political topics. It's the easiest way to expose your ignorance. Please cite the Article or Amendment in the Constitution where is says it is either the President's or the Federal Govt's responsibility to establish "policies on innovation". I don't even know what the hell that means from a political perspective. Check that, it sounds like more govt. regulation and higher taxes. Thank God they aren't talking about it, then. This is something left to the free market.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

bauertim — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:28:24 -0000

If you would like a transcript (rough) of the interview with some summary thoughts you can go here:

http://timbauer.bauerfive.c...

From my view she was dead on. I look at my three boys (under 11) and ponder what will inspire them into the science and tech fields. Unless I shoulder the burden I suspect it will not come from schools and ambient experiences.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Maurice — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:20:09 -0000

The main problem is that for a number of reasons the technical professions don’t go into politics - its noticeable that lawyers predominate – I remember discussing some new employment laws that where coming in and the General Consul I was talking to pointed out some of the areas of the law where there where major areas un certainty and he commented well makes works for their mates in the legal profession.

Politicians love to paint them selves as modern and certainly in the UK have a naive view of the ability of technology to solve soft human problems look at the blind faith in identity cards, child databases the Tony Blair and his followers have.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

JohnDiac — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:49:45 -0000

Thanks for the ideas.I love this site and it was very helpful.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Stephan Kinsella — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:23:46 -0000

[last post formatting messed up--re-doing] Mr. Scoble, you may be interested in my recent monograph, Against Intellectual Property. A free, online PDF can be found here . I'm a practicing patent attorney, and a pro-free market, pro-innovation, pro-property rights libertarian. As I explain in my monograph, I believe abolishing the patent system is one step towards promoting innovation and freedom; and as a libertarian, I would argue that abolishing taxes, regulation, and indeed the state itself, are the only ways to really create an environment that permits innovation to flourish.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Stephan Kinsella — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:22:38 -0000

Mr. Scoble, you may be interested in my recent monograph, Against Intellectual Property. A free, online PDF can be found here Mr. Scoble, you may be interested in my recent monograph, Against Intellectual Property. A free, online PDF can be found here . I'm a practicing patent attorney, and a pro-free market, pro-innovation, pro-property rights libertarian. As I explain in my monograph, I believe abolishing the patent system is one step towards promoting innovation and freedom; and as a libertarian, I would argue that abolishing taxes, regulation, and indeed the state itself, are the only ways to really create an environment that permits innovation to flourish.. I'm a practicing patent attorney, and a pro-free market, pro-innovation, pro-property rights libertarian. As I explain in my monograph, I believe abolishing the patent system is one step towards promoting innovation and freedom; and as a libertarian, I would argue that abolishing taxes, regulation, and indeed the state itself, are the only ways to really create an environment that permits innovation to flourish.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Michael — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:14:51 -0000

This is a tough;especially with a huge % of our population still in the, "creation" versus "evolution" debate. A huge block just does not want innovation, unless of course it is framed as competition.

I think this might be what is necessary - harness our jingoistic instincts towards innovation instead winning wars and sporting events.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Meritocrat — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:04:39 -0000

By allowing our public schools to compete in a free market for the best and brightest; by eliminating any form of affirmative action; and by creating scholarships based on intelligence rather than need we can easily regain our spot as top innovators.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Peg — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:35:24 -0000

The power of innovation at this point in history really hits home if one has been fortunate enough to visit a place such as Beijing. And it's not just China, India, and Brazil who are coursing ahead at full steam -- even "staid" old Europe is racing to innovate. Every other nation on earth sees innovation as the key to its future and thus it is a daily, national priority. Americans who haven't seen it for themselves have no idea how fast the global race has become.

In my opinion, the greatest gift any American could give himself or herself right now -- particularly Americans in any position of responsibility or influence -- is to find a way to travel overseas and see it in person. Take the next plane. And take the next generation with you.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Jake Brodsky — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:29:10 -0000

The problem is that nearly everyone is sitting around waiting for others to take the lead on these roles.

It ain't gonna happen, people!

Look in the mirror. Look at your kid's classrooms. Look at what schools have to work with. We have succumbed to the notion of hands-off education. We have suffered from a generation of teachers who thought they knew more than the rest of the working world.

So we protect our kids from ideas. We protect our people from experimenting. We legislate all sorts of things such as how large a ham radio tower you can erect in your back yard, what chemicals you can buy over the counter, where you work on your car, change your oil --we're even trying to legislate what one can do with one's own computer with the DMCA.

So people lack the enthusiasm of innovation. Busybody protective laws have killed interest in anything technical for kids. They'd rather engage with online games and pretend play. They're not stupid, they know that technically inclined people are nerds who will never be in charge. And what does media emphasize? Leadership!

There are many flavors of leadership and they don't have to be in business.

When was the last time your kids made a kite and flew it? Have your children ever been to a small airport to see the airplanes? Have your children tried making a hologram? Looking for sunspots? Exploring the airwaves on a short-wave radio?

And then we sit around wondering why we don't have innovation... It's not about money. It's about giving your time and sharing your experience with children.

The problem isn't that politicians don't want innovation. It's that we've let them kill it before it even had a chance to happen.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

macbeach — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:35:19 -0000

I'm pretty sure that the policies for Obama look a lot like: If it moves, tax it!

McCain isn't much better but I think his administration would be more likely to hold the line on bigger government.

Our current rate of growth in government is unsustainable. We can wait till the system colapses, or we can fix it now. Sooner the better as far as I'm concerned. I don't normally hawk my blog here, but these two videos (not by me) have SOME ideas thta might address the problems you raise. I'm quite sure the "change" Obama talks about doesn't look anything like this... if it did, I'd probably vote for him.

http://www.youtube.com/user...

Actually, that's a direct link to the video, I bypassed my blog entry.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Spencer — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:06:35 -0000

Great post. Although I would like to mention to some that "talking points" on a politicians website do not constitute a discussion about the issue.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Stephan Kinsella — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:44:18 -0000

Promote innovation? This is not hard at all. Get the government out of the way. Abolish IP law. Lower taxes. Abolish regulations. That's the only thing that will do it.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

JackHumphrey — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:30:35 -0000

Judging by the talking points both sides have decided on, through focus groups and the nature of our sound bite culture, it seems they think the public is just too dumb to handle discussions of science, technology and innovation.

While I agree with you that this SHOULD be a top issue and not a bullet point in a pamphlet, I have seen enough of "the public" to know that the politicians might just be right on the money with their assessment of what the lowest common denominator in our country can handle a lengthy discussion about.

I saw a woman this week on CNN, when asked if she knew who John McCain picked as his running mate, answer Barack Obama.

I've seen a ton of other such people representing what the politicians refer to as "hard working Americans" handle similar types of questions with some of the most outrageous answers you can imagine.

So, SHOULD we be talking about innovation and keeping America in the forefront? Absolutely. Can the average American handle anything beyond a debate over creationism vs. science? Sadly, I think not.

Apparently, the politicians and focus groups think the same way.

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

Natalie Fonseca — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:27:56 -0000

Hi Robert,

I am the co-founder of the Tech Policy Summit conference...I've been meaning to contact you and this post is a great reminder. We'll be debating this issue, and others like it, at our next Summit in 2009. If you're interested in being part of the program, we'd like to have you there. It's March 23-25 in San Mateo (so no plane flight required for you!).

I'll email you as well, but I thought I'd ask you in public since that's where you spend most of your time.

For the record, because we get asked about this, we're not affiliated with any political party, trade association, lobbying group, etc. The Summit is strictly nonpartisan. We're *just* a startup that produces tech events.

Mitch Kapor, Esther Dyson, David Hornik, John Chen, Craig Newmark, Chris Shipley, Kim Polese, Reid Hoffman and Prith Banerjee have agreed to volunteer for our 2009 advisory board, and we're looking forward to creating an event that sparks discussion...and action!

We're still in the early planning stages on the agenda, but I hope you can participate as a speaker. Feel free to DM me on Twitter at TechPolicy.

Thanks,
Natalie

Re: The political topic that must not be discussed in USA

redfish — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:34:01 -0000

Robert,

When the so-called 'Reagan coalition' was originally built, I think everyone was on board together, because many older business leaders feel that standing on values and morals helped them build up their companies succeed in the business world. Also a lot of these older business people are sort of like Ross Perot, who had all of his employees wear suits and shave their beards, and demanded a work ethic---think of IBM before the 80s. Perot as I know isn't that strongly social conservative but was a strong proponent of the drug war. I think its sort of different today, and people involved in business now are quite a bit more libertarian, and want the hands of government off of everything

But I think it has to be pointed out that not everyone thats socially conservative are fundamentalist types like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. There are a lot of people who are on the conservative side of the spectrum on social issues who have legitimate points of view and their politics isn't scary.