[woodandsteel]

Radical new technologies are generally based on scientific understanding that is the product of many decades of government-funded research.

Also many new technologies were first developed by the military, such as the internet, the jet engine, sonar, nuclear power, the computer, and space rockets.

Alas, the Republicans, who have an economic philosophy similar to yours, have been slashing government support of science, and so we can expect to fall behind the Chinese in it in the coming decades.

[pfdietz]

There's actually not good evidence that public funding of research has a positive economic impact (private R&D is another matter).

https://lemire.me/blog/2013/02/26/does-academic-research-cau...