I’m Outraged
Just last post I mentioned some rich folk wasting money on developing a jet pack, but now I have discovered yet more ultra rich folks squandering millions developing an efficient electric car.
Aptera Motors announced today that the company has raised more than $24 million at the close of its Series C round of venture funding. The new funds will be used to start initial production of its Aptera Typ-1, a radically different vehicle designed to marry advanced aerodynamics with light-weight composite technology creating an incredibly powerful, yet extremely safe vehicle that is a joy to drive. Additionally, the company plans to use the newly raised funds for a new manufacturing facility located in Vista, Calif., just a short distance from the company’s present headquarters in Carlsbad.
This make me so freaking mad! What a waste of money! Can you imagine all the good things the state could do with all that money. Honestly, what purpose would an efficient electric car serve? I can’t see any possible good from the development of this car.
I would happily support any legislation that increased the taxes on rich venture capitalists firms and uses those funds to subsidize the development of technology to make cars more efficient and less reliant on gasoline. Since their is no demand for this kind of technology(nobody wants to help the environment or save money on gasoline), it would be prudent to bring in the massive coercive bureaucratic force of the federal government to generate incentives. Given climate change, there is great urgency to do something about our current predicament. It makes sense to heavily tax those wealthy enough to invest in technologies trying to reduce our gasoline usage to develop incentives to encourage the development of technologies that will reduce gasoline usage.
Can you imagine what kind of incentive the federal government could offer technology firms developing alternatives to combustion engines if they took the 24 million these selfish investors gave to this company developing a car that runs without a combustion engine?
With the state administering resources the sky is the limit!
July 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
What!?! People being innovative and entrepreneurial without government mandates and incentives? I don’t believe it.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:37 am
First, I’m up this late because my upstairs neighbors won’t stop stomping around.
Second, your posts are dripping in sarcasm so I can’t figure out what your point is.
Third, I’m assuming that your point is that the government shoots itself in the foot by taxing rich people- when it is these very rich people that are saving our country and our world.
I don’t necessarily see how taxes have anything to do with whether or not a wealthy entrepreneur or scientist or engineer develops innovative technology that might have the potential for doing a great deal of good. The two things (taxes and venture capitalism leading to innovative good things) might be related in some indirect six-degrees of separation way. But taxes are just taxes, thats what our government does - taxes things. And funding crazy things with the hope of turning a huge profit is what venture capitalists do- taxes aren’t getting in the way of that. And besides, for every electric car idea there are plenty of really bad ideas that are finding private funding all the time that are not in the best interest of mankind. Like the Large Hadron super collider that will cause a black hole that sucks the entire solar system into it.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:26 am
Not to be technical but from what I can tell the Large Hadron Super Collider is actually be financed by a collection of countries and not privately.
July 31st, 2008 at 8:34 am
Black holes have only as much gravitational pull as their mass allows. So a tiny atomic nucleus black hole will pull as much as an atom.
But I find Joey’s comments odd in that he sees no relation between taxes and private capital investment. If the government takes more money, there is less left to be invested.
And if private citizens invest their money in a losing proposition, they are only losing their money. If the government invests in a loser, it is wasting all of our money.