The solution is to fix capitalism so it does the job it is supposed to do: Manage risk.
People who do signal processing can understand this analogy: Imagine you are trying to get a good signal by integrating it over time. The very first thing you do is take a null reading from your instrument to establish zero. Then when you expose your instrument to actual phenomena, you know that whatever number comes out of the A/D converter has to be discounted by the reading you took in the absence of the phenomena. If you don't, you'll end up integrating what is sometimes called "the DC component" of the signal and long before you can get any meaningful data about the phenomena, you'll have saturated your summation. What we're been doing in capitalism is the equivalent of failing to subtract out the DC component. The desired "signal" we're looking for -- the proper distribution of capital in the economy -- ends up being utterly washed out in a phenomenon that many mischaracterize as "the rich get richer". The whole point of capital accumulation is to allow the rich to get richer under the correct circumstances because that way capital is invested most wisely. What we've been doing is, instead, to leave the DC component in the economy which rewards many very risk averse people simply because they are rich. The DC component in the economy actually has been given a name by economists who study the theory of investments called "Modern Portfolio Theory": "The Risk Free Interest Rate" The Risk Free Interest Rate is sometimes represented in a theoretic portfolio as "The Risk Free Asset", which is usually defined as something like the long term average of short term Treasury notes. The Risk Free Interest Rate is the null signal level of the economy. If you don't subtract it out your economy is doomed to maldistribution of capital. Many, understandably, try to fix the symptoms of this failed model of capitalism by going to government capitalization of risky enterprises such as technology development. But while the government may be capable of sustaining losses incurred by programs like The Shuttle, The Tokamak, etc. since it can always turn to the private sector for taxes, but had better have that power because it has a lousy track record of appropriately managing risk in technology development so its losses are enormous. Worse, it builds up bureaucracies that find competence threatening and it is precisely because those bureaucracies can sustain losses that they are so destructive. Now to get specific, "The Risk Free Interest Rate" finds its way into every investment decision when establishing liquidation value of a portfolio -- and liquid value is where its at when the all important "liquidity" of the economy is taken into consideration by monetary authorities. No one, and I mean NO ONE in either political party wants to hear this, but what has to be done is replace taxes on all economic activities with a single tax on the liquidation value of assets at the risk free interest rate -- and distribute as much of that revenue as possible in a citizen's dividend -- not through government programs. On Sat, Jan 19, 2013 at 5:29 PM, OrionWorks - Steven Vincent Johnson < orionwo...@charter.net> wrote: > > It would premature to stop those investments now because LENR might come > > to pass. Even I think so, and no one is more confident that cold fusion > > has to potential to displace all other sources of energy than I am. > > > > It has the potential, yes. But first it must be controlled, then > developed. > > There is no telling how long that might take. Even if I saw a working > Rossi > > reactor, I would not advise Siemens or GE to abandon development of all > > other energy technology. Not just yet. > > You carry a strong streak of pragmatism in you, Jed. > > If I had anything to say about what our DoE ought to fund, I'd do my best > to > hedge my bets by diversifying as much as possible. That means I would make > sure LENR research got a fair share of the nation's portfolio as well. > > Regards, > Steven Vincent Johnson > www.OrionWorks.com > www.zazzle.com/orionworks > >
