[cma]

Sometimes the Randian suggestion doesn't meaningfully differ from the caricature of Keynes: "dump a portion of production into the ocean to help the economy."

World War II spurred development of new metal alloys, better vehicles, and thousands of other innovations. Does that make Hitler a hero? Was war the only path?

(Sorry, I had to Godwin it before this thread got too long; the more general war analogy isn't too far off though: $300-million in heavy-equipment laden fiber laying probably resulted in some injury--is it too much to ask that we both get the beneficial externalities of R&D and put in the fiber for a useful purpose in the first place?)