Here's an idea: government backed loans for tech companies, and if they fail, the government gets the IP and releases it under some kind of FOSS license. Seems like a win-win.

Not sure how much of a win that is for the taxpayers. You loaned someone hundreds of thousands for something that no one found value in, but at least it's open source?

A better use of public money is funding industries with high capital requirements for straight equity. I'd rather we build fabs for Intel and AMD in the Great Lakes region with federal money in exchange for stock where the returns can go to pensions.

i doubt that components for consumer electronics can be made cheap enough manufacturing them in the US. you just never are going to be able to make a TV for $150 in the US. it’s a pipe dream made up by politicians.

and why the great lakes? pollute the beautiful nature in minnesota and surroundings?

also, VCs just follow trends and don’t understand many industries. no VC or angel funding does not mean anything.

Cheap power and plentiful freshwater supply that can be utilized renewably (fabs don't capture water like say, agriculture).

There are multiple fabs in the US today making components for consumer electronics as well as multiple fabs under construction. Government incentives are a major factor in choosing sites for these projects, we know we need more of them domestically, and know we can make a buck off them for the taxpayer.

AMD in sunnyvale is a superfund site and there have been occurences there of people with birth defects.

What’s the IP worth of most failed startups? The code is a bunch of calls to other GPL libraries. The code has 0 value until people pay to use it.

that assumes there is no value in integrating code. actually, from my experience, that is where the value is. how you put into practice components to solve a new problem or offer a new way to do something people are willing to pay for.

what if the govt lends you 100k but you spent 500k of your savings and time? now they own a 600k asset that nobody needs to pay you for using.