by Heath W. Fahle | Oct 14, 2011 3:38pm(0) Comments | Log in to Post a Comment Posted to: Opinion “Should we fund a Manhattan-like project that develops a nuclear bomb to deal with global energy and alternative energy or should we fund 100,000 garages across America, the kind of industry and innovation that developed Silicon Valley?” Tom Brokaw posed that question to Sen. John McCain during a 2008 presidential debate. In a tidy encapsulation of why he isn’t president now, McCain offered a rather banal answer and quickly pivoted to grumbling about matters before the Senate.The question is equally relevant when considered in the context of a national alternative energy strategy or a state’s economic development policy.Gov. Dannel Malloy’s recent efforts to bring Jackson Laboratory to Connecticut answer the question in deed rather than word. The project, announced two weeks ago, relies on state tax dollars: $291 million, including $192 million construction loan and $99 million in research grants.  Those vast sums are in addition to the $864 million Bioscience Connecticut additions to UConn Health Center announced in May. Connecticut under Gov. Malloy’s leadership is counting on the Manhattan Project-concept to get the state’s economy moving again. It is the guiding principle behind Malloy’s other signature jobs initiative, the First Five program through which big name companies like CIGNA received a $15 million no interest loan, TicketNetwork got a $4.5 million loan, and ESPN scored $17.5 million. The alternative is to allow ingenuity to emerge from one of Connecticut’s garages or basements.  This requires innovators to keep more of their own money rather than siphoning it away with utility prices, transportation costs, insurance rates, or in the form of tax dollars that are redistributed to bigger companies because they are, well, big.The choice between the strategies is as much philosophical as it is practical, but recent history suggests that government isn’t a good judge of who should be winners and losers. The fleeting promise of the Patriots coming to Connecticut or the empty urban revitalization efforts in Hartford, New London, and elsewhere bear witness to this fact. Over the past week, some of the most heartfelt tributes to Steve Jobs, Apple’s iconic CEO, came from high school friend and Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak. Woz may not look much like one of those nerdy kids tinkering in the Jobs family garage anymore, but the magic of what happened there was evident in the tears he wiped from his face.Connecticut could use some of that magic now.Heath W. Fahle is the Policy Director of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy and a former Executive Director of the Connecticut Republican Party. Contact Heath about this article by visiting heathwfahle.comTags: jobs, economic future, development, First Five, Manhattan Project, Heath W. Fahle(0) CommentsBe the first to comment