quote:

ORIGINAL: samboct
I'm sorry, but both of you guys are talking about companies that are long gone, along with business models that considered R+D to be part of a companies life blood, rather than a needless expense that can be outsourced. As an example these days- GEs research lab has maybe 125 folks in it- and that's one of the wealthiest corporations out there. HP is on the rocks, as is Lucent and AT+T doesn't do research any more. Oil companies do R+D? Don't make me laugh.... Defense contractors still do some R+D, but they've got the aforementioned structural issues.

Sorry, but I'm on the front lines with these companies and I've seen them pull in their R+D when it doesn't deliver results instantly. Big companies don't do spin outs well often, it's not their core business.

Like I said- what's lacking are first customers, like Uncle Sam.

Sam

quote:

ORIGINAL: DarkSteven

The American Chemical Society recently advocated a strategy of giving techies the tools needed to spur technological innovation on the basis that new technologies equate to business and thus job growth.

http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_18783382

Comments?

I'll go first.  I kinda agree with the idea of making business tools available to techies, but am very leery that the focus will be on developing and administering the infrastructure rather than on the health of the businesses produced and the concomitant jobs.  And I don't like the idea of assuming that the problem is that prospective entrepreneurs need access to funds to succeed - before making that assumption, we need to know just what ARE the factors preventing more startups, especially since we used to not seem to have this problem  - what's changed?

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomYngBlk

Steven, my question back to you would be do you think that it is a lack of innovation that is hurting the economy? Making us lose to other economies in asia? I personally don't think that is it. I think their 5 year plans are better than our quarter to quarter hystronics. As a country they know where they are going. We don't have a clue week to week.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DarkSteven

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomYngBlk

Steven, my question back to you would be do you think that it is a lack of innovation that is hurting the economy? Making us lose to other economies in asia? I personally don't think that is it. I think their 5 year plans are better than our quarter to quarter hystronics. As a country they know where they are going. We don't have a clue week to week.

1. Yes, I do.  The standard liberal position is that we need more jobs; and the standard Republican position is that we need more businesses, that the businesses create jobs.

Both are wrong.  More businesses providing exactly the same goods or services creates healthy economic competition, but simply swaps jobs from one business to another.

What we need are more industries.  If a new product is created, it will increase consumption, so there will be more dollars fed into the economy. 

2.  The Asian companies are eating our lunch with cheap labor.  In a global economy, they are doing exactly what the GOP advocates - starting new businesses that compete with existing ones.  Unfortunately for us, the new companies are overseas and the existing ones are domestic.

3. You bring up a good point - that confidence in the economy, whether justified or not, tends to assuage Wall Street's nerves so they don't close off the spigot.

Look at it this way - the standard modus operandi haggles over how to split the pie.  New industries enlarge the pie.