McCain 300 Million dollar contest.....!!!

Re: McCain 300 Million dollar contest.....!!!

I do wonder why $300 million. Has anyone seen where this number came from? I don't see anything wrong with it, but why not $100 million or $500 million? Does that number buy the patent for the US so that everyone can use the technology? It's an interesting idea. I could see an argument that says "the government wants to spend $300 million on this, I think private enterprise could do it better so I will reward the entire sum to the person/organization that pulls it off." On the down side, I can envision a small outfit with some sharp ideas but not a lot of capital that could make a lot of progress with a government grant.

The best justification for $300M I've heard is that is the population of the US and this prize represents $1 for each american.

It's an interesting idea, but it dates back to the prizes offered for the first maritime clock--I might remind that it took John Harrison almost 4 decades to recoup that prize.

Rap

it seems that many throughout the innertubes are irritated with the idea,
however I think they are missing the point...
yes this is not the first attempt at such a thing and yes that inventor will already make millions off the patent but the point is motivation.....IMO.

P.S> McCain is still worthless save his service to the country, this probably wasn't even his idea, i would put money on that...

Obama has mocked McCain for his idea, i think it was a programmed response though.

Although his idea is not directly solving the problem, its a step in the right direction. I'm surprised at him.

It's one step above dropping the sales tax on gasoline during the summer months; worthless.

Dropping the federal gas tax in the summer is not worthless. I is worse than doing nothing.

Gotta agree with you there, roger. He was only trying to buy votes.