"...isn't identifying a need and getting in at the ground floor what investing is all about. "
That's my problem with t-bone, he wants taxpayer funded subsidies rather than risking his money. Investment assumes a risk in exchange for growth on the capital.
The us gov't did not subsidize development of the infrastructure for the auto and gasoline industry other than to build roads and part of the motivation for that was for defense purposes. It was obvious to everyone with a brain that petroleum was more advantageous than whale oil, coal, and horses for transportation in the early 1900s; however, the govt didn't fund Ford, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Schwab...
