Mass Gov. Deval Patrick told a biotech industry conference in Boston yesterday that he was planning more than $1 billion in spending on biotech research, including embryonic stem cell research.
Harry dissects the proposal and looks at the state’s recent investments and how they’re falling apart now. I seem to recall in the 1980s the state making a similar major investment in microprocessors to bolster the industry here. How’s that working out? The remnants of Digital Equipment Corp have been subsumed into Intel, but there’s certainly not enough of the industry left to justify the previous money spent.
But beyond that, on the moral level, we can expect to see taxpayer funding of all kinds of questionable research that, at its basis, begins with the murder of innocents.
Economically, Harry thinks we can get a lot more bang for our buck, creating and keeping a lot more and broader-based jobs, by sticking to the basics:
The $1B would be better spent improving maintenance on the MBTA or filling potholes. Venture capitalists and biotech researchers won’t do that, but it will benefit their work.
I thought Democrats were supposed to be for the little guy. So why are they giving away the store to deep-pocketed venture capitalists and biotech companies? Let them pay for their own research. Hmmm.
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I think DEC was actually bought out by Compaq and then by HP, not Intel.
I was thinking of the microprocessor division. That was sold off after the acquisition by Compaq. I have an acquaintance who works there.