I should have added in this post and will make the comment in all caps:
THE US GOVT SHOULD NOT GET EQUITY, WARRANTS OR ANY OTHER PROFIT KICKBACK FROM COMPANIES IT DOES BUSINESS WITH. Hence, if they buy vaccines, and give them away for free, the govt should not get warrants for that.
@jeffrey. You picked up on an important aspect of government. It believes itself to be an investor with its operating cash-flow from taxpayers. Lets get back to servicing the community and doing it well.
One other missing aspect of this scenario are the state and local government relationships with NGOs. In my experience watching Massachusetts as an example, the State Government is looking to support growth in manufacturing in the state. [Noble Goal]. They have set aside more than $25M in money for "Grants" to support this. However, they are not allowed to give money directly to companies, based on STATE LAWS. SOOOOOOO, they give it to NGOs who then give grants to companies directly... unaccountable NGO leaders who do not have any business sense nor look at the effective impact of these grants and understand that giving money to a company that has no market for its products is not a good thing. OR, to give money to the good guys who are already successful, and pocket the extra cash, is not smart.
What we need is "GOOD" Sense... Not just "Common Sense" as the common is not always a smart thing...
Interesting point on Mass....no doubt, others are doing it. From the Mass citizen perspective, "sure we want manufacturing in the state", so it sounds like a good program even though it isn't.
Milton Friedman said “government has three jobs. To make the laws, enforce the laws, and protect us and our property.”
The typical citizen often struggles to understand that the free market, capitalism, entrepreneurs, will solve more problems and create more diversity, equity and inclusion than a bunch of government bureaucrats will ever create.
This lack of understanding leads people to believe that “we need them to fix this”- and the simpleminded will quickly throw their support behind any politician who claims they will fix all of society’s shortcomings.
There needs to be a change in people’s understanding. Whenever possible, we should always and everywhere not allow government to do anything, address anything, change anything, that the free market could and should be unemcumbered to solve.
Roads, fire departments, schools, retirement savings, the FDA, and hundreds of other tasks we all now expect government to handle should and could all be handled by private sector businesses.
I would challenge anyone to tell me of one government department or role in our lives that couldn’t be handled by the private sector- except for the three tasks Friedman spoke of.
Again and again we see bloated ineffective, government intrusion into markets that results in worse problems, and preventing good effective solutions.
We see budgets explode, deficits and debts and this only further crushes the ability of entrepreneurs to acquire the investments they need to solve problems.
I like the specific focus of nonprofits as incubators for entrepreneurs. Willingness to risk, perseverance and tenacity, living below your means, delayed gratification and having to choose between your son's need for an ER visit or making payroll are things that cannot be taught - and certainly cannot be mentored by an individual that has always worked for a guaranteed paycheck like most of the organizations you listed.
The cesspool that is politics in states like Illinois, California, New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Mississippi and a few others is so deeply entrenched that there would have to be a bill introduced, voted on and approved to get DOGE into those states.
Remember, it's usually more important to bet on the jockey than the horse and there ain't a lot of Elon Musks and his teammates out there. I love the idea, but the implementation would inevitably get bogged down at a minimum of a quarter and probably a third of the states in this country, unfortunately the ones that need it the most.
I supported 1871 when it started. But, it was a JB Pritzker vanity project. Nothing of note has come out of 1871. Same with Matter. Though, there are good people at both that do stuff there. Howard Tullman (despite my political differences with him) was an entrepreneur and he tried to instill that into 1871 culture. Too much to overcome
Northwestern (oh, don't get me going about them) has had a new ventures office for several years now - I think it's called INVO. Have they produced anything of note?
UChicago has the Polsky Center, U of I has one, DePaul, Indiana, Purdue etc. There is room for colleges to have this since professors often don't know how to monetize research (AUTMN offices do that too) but students don't understand the path either. It takes college resources to build those, and theoretically they have to compete for resources with other departments....Agree, I don't think Northwestern's entrepreneurship program has churned out much but they do have some good professors. Craig Wortman is excellent on selling skills etc.
I should have added in this post and will make the comment in all caps:
THE US GOVT SHOULD NOT GET EQUITY, WARRANTS OR ANY OTHER PROFIT KICKBACK FROM COMPANIES IT DOES BUSINESS WITH. Hence, if they buy vaccines, and give them away for free, the govt should not get warrants for that.
@jeffrey. You picked up on an important aspect of government. It believes itself to be an investor with its operating cash-flow from taxpayers. Lets get back to servicing the community and doing it well.
One other missing aspect of this scenario are the state and local government relationships with NGOs. In my experience watching Massachusetts as an example, the State Government is looking to support growth in manufacturing in the state. [Noble Goal]. They have set aside more than $25M in money for "Grants" to support this. However, they are not allowed to give money directly to companies, based on STATE LAWS. SOOOOOOO, they give it to NGOs who then give grants to companies directly... unaccountable NGO leaders who do not have any business sense nor look at the effective impact of these grants and understand that giving money to a company that has no market for its products is not a good thing. OR, to give money to the good guys who are already successful, and pocket the extra cash, is not smart.
What we need is "GOOD" Sense... Not just "Common Sense" as the common is not always a smart thing...
David
Interesting point on Mass....no doubt, others are doing it. From the Mass citizen perspective, "sure we want manufacturing in the state", so it sounds like a good program even though it isn't.
Milton Friedman said “government has three jobs. To make the laws, enforce the laws, and protect us and our property.”
The typical citizen often struggles to understand that the free market, capitalism, entrepreneurs, will solve more problems and create more diversity, equity and inclusion than a bunch of government bureaucrats will ever create.
This lack of understanding leads people to believe that “we need them to fix this”- and the simpleminded will quickly throw their support behind any politician who claims they will fix all of society’s shortcomings.
There needs to be a change in people’s understanding. Whenever possible, we should always and everywhere not allow government to do anything, address anything, change anything, that the free market could and should be unemcumbered to solve.
Roads, fire departments, schools, retirement savings, the FDA, and hundreds of other tasks we all now expect government to handle should and could all be handled by private sector businesses.
I would challenge anyone to tell me of one government department or role in our lives that couldn’t be handled by the private sector- except for the three tasks Friedman spoke of.
Again and again we see bloated ineffective, government intrusion into markets that results in worse problems, and preventing good effective solutions.
We see budgets explode, deficits and debts and this only further crushes the ability of entrepreneurs to acquire the investments they need to solve problems.
Government is never the answer.
Well done! Pretty much everything I wanted to say!
Businesses thrive when they solve problems. Governments thrive by creating them.
I like the specific focus of nonprofits as incubators for entrepreneurs. Willingness to risk, perseverance and tenacity, living below your means, delayed gratification and having to choose between your son's need for an ER visit or making payroll are things that cannot be taught - and certainly cannot be mentored by an individual that has always worked for a guaranteed paycheck like most of the organizations you listed.
The cesspool that is politics in states like Illinois, California, New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, Mississippi and a few others is so deeply entrenched that there would have to be a bill introduced, voted on and approved to get DOGE into those states.
Remember, it's usually more important to bet on the jockey than the horse and there ain't a lot of Elon Musks and his teammates out there. I love the idea, but the implementation would inevitably get bogged down at a minimum of a quarter and probably a third of the states in this country, unfortunately the ones that need it the most.
that's why counties and townships seceding from the recalcitrant state and joining another is a compelling idea.
Matter (Chicago life science incubator) just celebrated 10 years!
How many of the Matter start-ups made it?
Of those who did, how many are now merely feeding at the public trough of Medicare/Medicaid/NIH grants, etc?
I supported 1871 when it started. But, it was a JB Pritzker vanity project. Nothing of note has come out of 1871. Same with Matter. Though, there are good people at both that do stuff there. Howard Tullman (despite my political differences with him) was an entrepreneur and he tried to instill that into 1871 culture. Too much to overcome
Northwestern (oh, don't get me going about them) has had a new ventures office for several years now - I think it's called INVO. Have they produced anything of note?
UChicago has the Polsky Center, U of I has one, DePaul, Indiana, Purdue etc. There is room for colleges to have this since professors often don't know how to monetize research (AUTMN offices do that too) but students don't understand the path either. It takes college resources to build those, and theoretically they have to compete for resources with other departments....Agree, I don't think Northwestern's entrepreneurship program has churned out much but they do have some good professors. Craig Wortman is excellent on selling skills etc.