Why does this matter? Clean Energy Technology depends on green metals and rare earth elements. Even upgrading a conventional power grid requires the same. For now, China controls the future.
Thank you. But more a round up of decent sources, with some needed connections and data visualizations. At some point, as this general topic will be returned to, I would appreciate your thoughts on a long-standing dilemma (one which goes back to Adam Smith). What role if any does government have in protecting and nurturing strategic economic interests?
If we hold that Adam Smith is in any still relevant, Smith very much did understand that the government had a role in breaking up monopolies and ensuring fair competition. His well-known passage:
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
Wealth of Nations (1776) bk. 1, ch. 10, pt. 2
Determining his position on protecting or kick-starting "infant industries" is more debatable. Less so, determining his position that the government should supply national defense as a common good, and this was an appropriate use of government revenue.
But when it comes to arguably or unarguably strategic resources and industries, this is a sticky wicket. We've seen the tremendous waste and abuse by the American military-industrial complex, and the concomitant interventionist adventures, costly in blood and treasure, serving to both rationalize and perpetuate those financial and policy commitments. We've seen the dangers of letting Big Agriculture run amok under the guise of subsidizing food security (more like ensuring metabolic syndrome on a population-wide basis).
Yet our national security interests are real: even if not well-served by our current national security state apparatus which targets concerned parents as domestic terrorists, deems white supremacy the greatest threat faced by our nation, and so on.
I suspect that in a future post, I will have some suggestions that a thoughtful libertarian such as yourself will find highly objectionable. So please object! Thank you for the kind words. Pleased to be a part of this general ongoing substack conversation.
Synthesis is probably a better word. More useful. I use the terms interchangeably due to army speak, but synthesis is really what is most valuable, and that is what I thank you for! Regarding government and strategic economic interest that is a fun topic. As you note, government has a terrible track record of promoting the "national interest", and if you look at the incentives this isn't surprising. I think notionally there is a place for government to use policy to protect strategic interests, but practically, since there is no incentive for these policies to actually work, they will just result in what we see today. The free market isn't a utopia, its just the best way of ensuring that people are incentivized to make good decisions. You should note that Adam Smith's theory of value was eventually adopted by Karl Marx. His right hemisphere was able to perceive the "invisible hand", but his individual policy recommendations were all socialist. Public policy is always socialist as it places the values of elites (in the name of the collective) above the values of individuals. I'll stay tuned and provide good faith push back where I can!
Thank you for the link. Daniel G. Nocera's work looks highly promising. But the artificial leaf / bionic leaf still relies on tech which requires green metals and rare earths. So that remains a concern. If he would Open Source this technology, that would be huge. I did find he started one company, Sun Catalytix, which (including intellectual property) was bought out by Lockheed Martin, the major Defense manufacturer. {https://chemistry.harvard.edu/people/daniel-g-nocera} So that to me at least is a step in the wrong direction. Can we get this technology widely spread, at the right price point, to small farmers, RV-ers, people who live in sunny places, etc? Those are my concerns. Right now, it appears that the military-industrial complex has snatched it up. But we'll see, right? Let's not give up yet!
I don't know about that site... It's some other guy's page, not Nocera's. The info on that page doesn't sound like what I heard Nocera talk about in his video. I don't know, but I got his name from a Substack guy who is very, very Brilliant Scientist Guy...
Check HIM out and what he says about Nocera... and about his train.
And keep in mind, too, this kind of science, as was evidenced by Tesla and his invention, which had to do with electrical energy pulled out of thin air, IS SUPPRESSED KNOWLEDGE, kept out of our reach by TPTB, who would no longer have us by the short n curlies, and their domination with petroleum, and so forth... These are OLD family monolithic corporate oligarchs, mind you.
Addendum to the above comment: FF is, I do still think, a brilliant guy... in certain ways. But he has shown me another side of himself, which is extremely racist and hostile. I had to ban him from my page. But that doesn't mean he is beyond redemption, or that he doesn't have some very interesting ideas about scientific things.
“A proper capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him. Or yourself.” Too true.
John Kerry (or ‘Lurch’ in honor of the Addams family butler) squawks ‘Ecocide’ as if bluster of Western economic superiority should be enough to bring these emerging nations in tow, into US/EU/NATO acquiescence. This is the same Secretary of State who had the gall to say “We didn’t lie to anyone” regarding the False Flag at Benghazi.
I appreciate the data analysis. It seems juvenile to make declarations propping up one of the more corrupt countries, while neglecting one’s own national interests. Same old bankrupt finances and vision for prosperity on Earth. The Agenda of WEF types lack sustainably while preaching and imposing via destabilizing self destruction.
The West is getting close to having enough rope for hanging equitably.
"The foolish man praises the dangers of war." Your cogent comments appreciated always. Not a John Kerry fan, as previous posts do indicate. In general agreement about the WEF agenda, for what that is worth, and think the one source I cite in the post did a bang-up job on how this likely plays out in the near future.
In honor of your quote, and I am reminded here of the substacker Fat Rabbit Iron, {https://fatrabbitiron.substack.com/} , the Henry David Thoreau of the Barbell, and also a Latin scholar whose musings I highly recommend, let me cite the famous passage from Tacitus, Agricola (chapter 30):
Raptōrēs orbis, postquam cūncta vastantibus dēfuēre terrae, mare scrūtantur: sī locuplēs hostis est, avārī, sī pauper, ambitiōsī, quōs nōn Oriēns, nōn Occidēns satiāverit: sōlī omnium opēs atque inopiam parī adfectū concupīscunt. Auferre trucīdāre rapere falsīs nōminibus imperium, atque ubi sōlitūdinem faciunt, pācem appellant.
"Thieves of the world, lacking lands now to devastate, they rove the sea. Those whom East nor West can satisfy reveal their greed if their enemies are wealthy, their ambition if they are paupers; alone amongst all men they covet rich and poor alike. Theft, slaughter, rapine they misname empire, they make a desolation and call it peace."
Substitute "peace" for the "Great Reset" and we have the WEF agenda. Keep the oligarchies intact at the expense -- financially, environmentally, tyrannically, and more -- of everyone else. If the fork in the road only leads to the Xi Jinping doctrine, then we might be travelling the same path regardless. Time to get off the main route.
Today we see BoJo the clown, who put all his weight behind backing the Coke Comic, being forced out; no illusions about a replacement, probably the even more bellicose Truss.
I am reminded of the Aubrey/Maturin series of English sea novels by Patrick O’Brian which hooked me some twenty years ago. I had companion lexicon and atlas. Now I understand they showed the remnants of piracy which England has made a formal policy of in empire building. Their coffers have been and are being filled by privateers, at the expense of other countries and their own ‘common’ citizens.
I enclose a link with economist/independent thinker, Lyndon Larouche from a lecture some 20+ years ago; around the 24-minute mark, he lays out what he sees as the mistaken policy of abandoning nuclear power; it’s just a minute or two, but it will give you an idea of why the Schiller Institute is promoting a new model of bringing the West into partnership with emerging South/East alliances:
Few people understand how important this is. Thanks for shedding light on the subject. Will link today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ to help spread the news!!!
Thank you always for your support. These long, detailed posts are the least popular among my select but scant readers. But as as an independent, I take on what I think needs doing. So to quote John Milton: "Still govern my song, [Heavenly Muse], and fit audience find, though few."
The quality of this analysis is insane, thank you!
Thank you. But more a round up of decent sources, with some needed connections and data visualizations. At some point, as this general topic will be returned to, I would appreciate your thoughts on a long-standing dilemma (one which goes back to Adam Smith). What role if any does government have in protecting and nurturing strategic economic interests?
If we hold that Adam Smith is in any still relevant, Smith very much did understand that the government had a role in breaking up monopolies and ensuring fair competition. His well-known passage:
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.
Wealth of Nations (1776) bk. 1, ch. 10, pt. 2
Determining his position on protecting or kick-starting "infant industries" is more debatable. Less so, determining his position that the government should supply national defense as a common good, and this was an appropriate use of government revenue.
But when it comes to arguably or unarguably strategic resources and industries, this is a sticky wicket. We've seen the tremendous waste and abuse by the American military-industrial complex, and the concomitant interventionist adventures, costly in blood and treasure, serving to both rationalize and perpetuate those financial and policy commitments. We've seen the dangers of letting Big Agriculture run amok under the guise of subsidizing food security (more like ensuring metabolic syndrome on a population-wide basis).
Yet our national security interests are real: even if not well-served by our current national security state apparatus which targets concerned parents as domestic terrorists, deems white supremacy the greatest threat faced by our nation, and so on.
I suspect that in a future post, I will have some suggestions that a thoughtful libertarian such as yourself will find highly objectionable. So please object! Thank you for the kind words. Pleased to be a part of this general ongoing substack conversation.
Synthesis is probably a better word. More useful. I use the terms interchangeably due to army speak, but synthesis is really what is most valuable, and that is what I thank you for! Regarding government and strategic economic interest that is a fun topic. As you note, government has a terrible track record of promoting the "national interest", and if you look at the incentives this isn't surprising. I think notionally there is a place for government to use policy to protect strategic interests, but practically, since there is no incentive for these policies to actually work, they will just result in what we see today. The free market isn't a utopia, its just the best way of ensuring that people are incentivized to make good decisions. You should note that Adam Smith's theory of value was eventually adopted by Karl Marx. His right hemisphere was able to perceive the "invisible hand", but his individual policy recommendations were all socialist. Public policy is always socialist as it places the values of elites (in the name of the collective) above the values of individuals. I'll stay tuned and provide good faith push back where I can!
Okay, so check this guy out!! Wowza!
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Daniel+Nocera&hps=1&atb=v314-1&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DDhg6VRex7uQ
Thank you for the link. Daniel G. Nocera's work looks highly promising. But the artificial leaf / bionic leaf still relies on tech which requires green metals and rare earths. So that remains a concern. If he would Open Source this technology, that would be huge. I did find he started one company, Sun Catalytix, which (including intellectual property) was bought out by Lockheed Martin, the major Defense manufacturer. {https://chemistry.harvard.edu/people/daniel-g-nocera} So that to me at least is a step in the wrong direction. Can we get this technology widely spread, at the right price point, to small farmers, RV-ers, people who live in sunny places, etc? Those are my concerns. Right now, it appears that the military-industrial complex has snatched it up. But we'll see, right? Let's not give up yet!
I ain't giving up, not EVER.
I don't know about that site... It's some other guy's page, not Nocera's. The info on that page doesn't sound like what I heard Nocera talk about in his video. I don't know, but I got his name from a Substack guy who is very, very Brilliant Scientist Guy...
Check HIM out and what he says about Nocera... and about his train.
https://fritzfreud.substack.com/p/prof-daniel-nocera-and-his-artificial
And keep in mind, too, this kind of science, as was evidenced by Tesla and his invention, which had to do with electrical energy pulled out of thin air, IS SUPPRESSED KNOWLEDGE, kept out of our reach by TPTB, who would no longer have us by the short n curlies, and their domination with petroleum, and so forth... These are OLD family monolithic corporate oligarchs, mind you.
Addendum to the above comment: FF is, I do still think, a brilliant guy... in certain ways. But he has shown me another side of himself, which is extremely racist and hostile. I had to ban him from my page. But that doesn't mean he is beyond redemption, or that he doesn't have some very interesting ideas about scientific things.
“A proper capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him. Or yourself.” Too true.
John Kerry (or ‘Lurch’ in honor of the Addams family butler) squawks ‘Ecocide’ as if bluster of Western economic superiority should be enough to bring these emerging nations in tow, into US/EU/NATO acquiescence. This is the same Secretary of State who had the gall to say “We didn’t lie to anyone” regarding the False Flag at Benghazi.
I appreciate the data analysis. It seems juvenile to make declarations propping up one of the more corrupt countries, while neglecting one’s own national interests. Same old bankrupt finances and vision for prosperity on Earth. The Agenda of WEF types lack sustainably while preaching and imposing via destabilizing self destruction.
The West is getting close to having enough rope for hanging equitably.
“Stultus vir pericula belli laudat.”
"The foolish man praises the dangers of war." Your cogent comments appreciated always. Not a John Kerry fan, as previous posts do indicate. In general agreement about the WEF agenda, for what that is worth, and think the one source I cite in the post did a bang-up job on how this likely plays out in the near future.
In honor of your quote, and I am reminded here of the substacker Fat Rabbit Iron, {https://fatrabbitiron.substack.com/} , the Henry David Thoreau of the Barbell, and also a Latin scholar whose musings I highly recommend, let me cite the famous passage from Tacitus, Agricola (chapter 30):
Raptōrēs orbis, postquam cūncta vastantibus dēfuēre terrae, mare scrūtantur: sī locuplēs hostis est, avārī, sī pauper, ambitiōsī, quōs nōn Oriēns, nōn Occidēns satiāverit: sōlī omnium opēs atque inopiam parī adfectū concupīscunt. Auferre trucīdāre rapere falsīs nōminibus imperium, atque ubi sōlitūdinem faciunt, pācem appellant.
"Thieves of the world, lacking lands now to devastate, they rove the sea. Those whom East nor West can satisfy reveal their greed if their enemies are wealthy, their ambition if they are paupers; alone amongst all men they covet rich and poor alike. Theft, slaughter, rapine they misname empire, they make a desolation and call it peace."
Substitute "peace" for the "Great Reset" and we have the WEF agenda. Keep the oligarchies intact at the expense -- financially, environmentally, tyrannically, and more -- of everyone else. If the fork in the road only leads to the Xi Jinping doctrine, then we might be travelling the same path regardless. Time to get off the main route.
Today we see BoJo the clown, who put all his weight behind backing the Coke Comic, being forced out; no illusions about a replacement, probably the even more bellicose Truss.
I am reminded of the Aubrey/Maturin series of English sea novels by Patrick O’Brian which hooked me some twenty years ago. I had companion lexicon and atlas. Now I understand they showed the remnants of piracy which England has made a formal policy of in empire building. Their coffers have been and are being filled by privateers, at the expense of other countries and their own ‘common’ citizens.
I enclose a link with economist/independent thinker, Lyndon Larouche from a lecture some 20+ years ago; around the 24-minute mark, he lays out what he sees as the mistaken policy of abandoning nuclear power; it’s just a minute or two, but it will give you an idea of why the Schiller Institute is promoting a new model of bringing the West into partnership with emerging South/East alliances:
https://youtu.be/1AOp7Aw0ZHE
Thanks for your work and response.
Few people understand how important this is. Thanks for shedding light on the subject. Will link today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/ to help spread the news!!!
Thank you always for your support. These long, detailed posts are the least popular among my select but scant readers. But as as an independent, I take on what I think needs doing. So to quote John Milton: "Still govern my song, [Heavenly Muse], and fit audience find, though few."
All best!