Why the Conard Interview Matters— or, Why the Democrats Need Karl Rove
For someone who really wants to do it right; who really cares about the result; who really wants to understand the mechanics and the physics of what's going on, it's so frustrating to hear one side of the argument totally dedicated to unsupported and unsubstantiated assertions. It's a kind of economic creationism: we can't possible have an economy if we don't totally focus on growth and innovation, to the utter ignorance of sustainability, stability and the survivability of those whose lives don't happen to involve innovation.
The most frustrating thing that Stewart let pass is that every single one of the examples of innovation Conard raised: Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook; each and every one of them were started by geeky high school and college students in the garage doing their nerd thing. Nothing Conard mentioned would have affected their desire or ability to have succeeded with their innovation. His examples of people leaving Google to innovate were examples of people wanting to INVEST in the innovations of others. Investment capital is different from innovation, and he refused to acknowledge that difference. The whole argument isn't even built on sand. It's built on nothing...