Political Divide

[tw]

Originally Posted by tw

Ironcially, that coal industry could innovate if it wanted (if it was patriotic). IGCC technology is but one example. Big coal has done no innovation for 40 years. Last industry innovation may be the high thermodynamically efficient plant built in Philly some 50 years ago. Coal industry is downsizing and has a reputation that it deserves.

Iinnovations that did not happen 20 years previously create job losses today. Need we cite General Motors, Aker's IBM, Fiorina's HP, Nardelli's Chrysler, the many fabric and shoe companies, the many US Steel manufacturers (who feared electric arc furnaces), or Esber's Ashton-Tate (world's biggest PC software manufacturer) as classic examples?

Innovation that does not exist even a decade ago means that industry must be bankrupted. Or, in the case of automobile tires, sold to many foreign owners who then undo harm created by business school types who hate and stifle innovation.

Why is the American auto industry still alive? Every innovation in a GM car in the past 40 years only exists because it was required by government regulators.