VIKTOR VEKSELBERG

In the beginning of the 21st century governments with large financial resources developed many buildings and communities as did in some capitalistic countries private firms. Many were successful but there were some failures almost everywhere. However after the Meltdown of 2008 and the Great Recession many large buildings and communities the world over were under-utilized and in many cases not used at all. Proportionately, Ireland, Spain and Greece had the worst problem (public as well as provate). However just because of size and wealth, the United States and China had the most unused buildings and communities that were developed. However, many economists and developers argue that even of those projects were failures, the buildings, streets, sewers, utilities and infrastructure will be there and when the economy heats up, they will be used.

This quotation illustrates on how even recent history can be perceived differently depending on one’s philosophy and world view. In America, we tend to minimize the government’s role in important innovation and great leaps forward. Many people from Communist or Socialist cultures, tend to minimize the role of private enterprise. For example in the case of the Internet, it is true that all the initial R&D was funded by DARPA, a unit of the Defense Department. And it is also true that the World Wide Web innovation and development was done and paid for by CERN a scientific consortium of European Governments. However, the total amount of those two government expenditures would not equal Microsoft’s R&D budget for 1 day. Most of the developmental capital came from the private sector and the people who did most of the innovative work were private sector employees. However, there would have been many years delay if the U. S. Government had not funded the first small but critical activity. The government sector provides a very large proportion of the sales income for Microsoft, Apple, Intel and the many other Silicon Valley firms, not with contracts for innovation but as buyers of their hardware and software. There are government contracts but those applications are specialized for the government and are a small fraction of the revenue received by Silicon Valley.

In the beginning of the 21st century governments with large financial resources developed many buildings and communities as did in some capitalistic countries private firms. Many were successful but there were some failures almost everywhere. However after the Meltdown of 2008 and the Great Recession many large buildings and communities the world over were under-utilized and in many cases not used at all. Proportionately, Ireland, Spain and Greece had the worst problem (public as well as provate). However just because of size and wealth, the United States and China had the most unused buildings and communities that were developed. However, many economists and developers argue that even of those projects were failures, the buildings, streets, sewers, utilities and infrastructure will be there and when the economy heats up, they will be used.

This quotation illustrates on how even recent history can be perceived differently depending on one’s philosophy and world view. In America, we tend to minimize the government’s role in important innovation and great leaps forward. Many people from Communist or Socialist cultures, tend to minimize the role of private enterprise. For example in the case of the Internet, it is true that all the initial R&D was funded by DARPA, a unit of the Defense Department. And it is also true that the World Wide Web innovation and development was done and paid for by CERN a scientific consortium of European Governments. However, the total amount of those two government expenditures would not equal Microsoft’s R&D budget for 1 day. Most of the developmental capital came from the private sector and the people who did most of the innovative work were private sector employees. However, there would have been many years delay if the U. S. Government had not funded the first small but critical activity. The government sector provides a very large proportion of the sales income for Microsoft, Apple, Intel and the many other Silicon Valley firms, not with contracts for innovation but as buyers of their hardware and software. There are government contracts but those applications are specialized for the government and are a small fraction of the revenue received by Silicon Valley.