The government screws-up everything it touches. Look at the Cash-for-Clunkers program - many dealers voluntarily decided "we're done" because they're not getting paid their ~$4000 per car allowance. And also the clunker-cars were *destroyed*. Why? Why weren't they recycled for their parts? Stupid, stupid, stupid. And not environmentally-friendly.
The clunker cars were recycled for parts. There were interviews on CNN, NPR, and surely plenty of other news organizations with the heads of automotive recyclers who suddenly became celebrities-for-a-minute when people started wondering about the crushed cars.
They can't be re-sold, but that was part of the point. The will be re-used.
y(0) = 0
y(n) = (y(n-1) * ((n - 1) / n)) + x(n) / n
So we have an unsubstantiated sentence by "Dan Kaminsky"? Who doesn't happen to be one of the researchers, so how does he know what he knows? That's usually the standard in "journalism", quote sources otherwise I can write a lot of stuff that's just talking out of my ass.
I actually worked with the researchers on this. (This is Dan.)
While I don't specifically doubt the veracity of your post, the irony of it (in context with the GP) greatly amuses me
To do nothing is to be nothing.