Part of the problem is start up costs. To do serious research you need labs, equipment, researchers, staff, test subjects, etc. If you have that much money the bounty had better be huge so that you do not just decide to play the stock market or real estate instead. Government funding of reesearch is needed to overcome these inherent barriers. Government is probably the only real solution to the problem.

For a very hard core alcoholic NOT drinking can be very dangerous. If said alcoholic quits, or even reduces, alcohol intake seizures can result causing serious damage. The only way to properly handle it is by proper detox.

Whoosh!

It would take 600 years for us to find out.

I once had Chevy Nova insurance.

How would we know?

One can only hope they Darwin themselves out.

Not the ones I know. They want to fund education, have a new scholarship programs for veterans, invest in basic non-military RnD etc. I think you have been brainwashed.

No, just pointing out the hypocrisy of the 'privatization' crowd. They want to have th eprivate sector solve all problems as long as they can externalize the cost.

*Ahem*
It eas funded through gov't bonds and the railroads were given a right of way as well as the checker board of every other section for 10 miles both north and south of the corridor. It turned out that the minerals under the checkerboard; oil, gas, and coal mostly with a few others like trona in some palces; were, and still are, worth a huge fortune. In fact UPRR made more money selling coal in the often treeless Western US than it did on freight for many years.

The private sector had years to create a railroad, only government intervention in the arket place made it a reality.

What is the billable rate for an [Astro|Cosmo]naut? I would think well over $1k/hr, what with enormous over head e.g. mission control. Who is paying for the time? The private companies or is the private sectort yet again getting a free ride on the back of the taxpayer?

Thank God Kennedy was a Republican!

That transcontinental railroad thing has paid for itself many times over. That cheap crappy stuff you get in Wal-Mart just doesn't teleport itself to the store you know.

Because they can afford *good* lawyers.

Simple, just let anyone teach and the number of students that can be educated will increase. And unemployment will be reduced. A win-win!

do you have public roads, schools, hospitals, utilties? Then you are getting a return. Airports? Mass transit? Either the country you are living in is horribly dysfunctional (e.g. Nigeria) or you are sadly mistaken.