[scottLobster]

Well we have to start somewhere. When you first put your foot on the gas the acceleration comes first, then the velocity, then position. Poo-pooing the initial acceleration because you haven't moved very far yet is rather short-sighted.

Heavy industry isn't a freaking SAAS startup with an indoor playground and free beer where profit isn't expected because you're just going for a buyout. It takes many years if not decades to build out brand new physical supply chains on any meaningful scale. Yes we're just getting started, but without this metric we'd be going nowhere.

[hedora]

The point of the comment you're responding to is that the US isn't leading in acceleration (second derivative), but instead in change of rate of acceleration (third derivative) of approving new plants.

So, while it is better than nothing, the situation is still much worse than other classes of terrible news would be.

For example, if our expansion of lithium production was being outpaced by China at a constant 2:1 ratio, that would mean we had solved the second derivative, and (if you count growth rate by percentage of current footprint) also the first derivative problem.

[natnat]

Completely! I'm not trying to disparage the progress that's being made.

This is a great start, I just wanted to make it clear that there's a long way to go :)

[m4rtink]

It can certainly behave like a startup if the situation is dire enough - see WW2 as an example.