Let’s Advance a Government Policy That Allows Less-Useful Technologies to Fail

We need the Advanced Technology Program like we need a $432-million hole in our pocketbook (“Advanced Technology Program Caught in the Works of Politics,” Nov. 26).

The beauty and bane of a free-market society is that weak designs and manufacturing are pointed out to companies quickly by the consumer. It should be up to the individual companies to anticipate market demands and get successful products to market that meet those demands. If companies don’t, they will learn or fail.

By looking to our government to facilitate this learning process, America will be doomed to die a slow financial death. Having the government sponsor these programs is expensive for you and me.

They can also create a kind of “welfare mentality” for our business that is not healthy in the long term. We have seen over and over again that government subsidies may help prop up a product in the short term, but it hinders the natural free-market development process in the long term.

Ultimately, having the government get out of the way and letting companies, and the individuals comprising them, build products and adapt to market influences on their own allows the vigorous growth that creates jobs for America. Maybe the best thing the government can do is be a lean and efficient model for corporate America.

BRAD TODD

Anaheim