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A comment on Japan building 1GW, $21bn solar power station in space. Parent comment

Re:Japan building 1GW, $21bn solar power station in space by Retric on Wednesday September 02, 2009 @09:33AM (#800099)
No, the "cost" is the risk currently assumed by the taxpayers plus opertunity cost and any defaulted loans. As they pay back the loans the risk keeps dropping. The upper bound on risk might be the total amount loaned, but you can't talk about the bailout as the total loan amount once they start to pay back most of the money.

PS: The actual cost estimate of the bailut was probably upto 10% of the amount of money loaned. It's quite possible we will make money from this at which point talking about the cost based on the total loan amount would be silly.

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Re:Japan building 1GW, $21bn solar power station in space by kingkongrevenge on Wednesday September 02, 2009 @10:45AM (#800274)
> opertunity cost

The opportunity cost was enormous. The bailouts were a disaster for American capitalism. We now have a huge tattoo that reads "WARNING: Crony Capitalist Country. Proceed with caution".

Don't ignore the very difficult to quantify effects of the bailouts on the credit markets. The whole lesson will surely make the US a less credit worthy market and raise more questions about the dollar.

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Re:Japan building 1GW, $21bn solar power station in space by anamax on Wednesday September 02, 2009 @02:25PM (#800791)
We've also increased the value of "owning" congresscritters. Before, they were good for arranging contracts and screwing competitors. Now they're also a line of credit.
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Re:Japan building 1GW, $21bn solar power station in space by Retric on Wednesday September 02, 2009 @01:05PM (#800586)
If the government is willing to bail out companies that fail then it reduces risks, so you should be more willing to invest in those companies.
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Re:Japan building 1GW, $21bn solar power station in space by anamax on Wednesday September 02, 2009 @02:27PM (#800793)
You're assuming that the govt will bail out investors. GM proves that it won't. It can't even be relied on to guarantee that lenders keep their place in line.
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Re:Japan building 1GW, $21bn solar power station in space by kingkongrevenge on Wednesday September 02, 2009 @04:25PM (#801028)
Yes, exactly. That is the problem. Capital destroying companies are attracting capital due to government interference, when really they should be liquidated and bought up by competent managers.
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