Forum Post: What is really innovative in today's market?

A couple of posts had got me thinking about writing this. I'm pretty much tired of hearing all this talk about what we are trying to accomplish is so bad because it will stifle innovation. It should be asked as to what kind of innovation they are talking about. I have seen very little coming out of the market place that can be called positively innovative. In fact, a lot of innovation is quite negative and just often disgusting.

Firstly, a huge amount of innovation isn't even done through the market. It is done at the military level, which acts as a pipeline to the high-tech industry. The first computer was the Univac. The Internet was originally ArpaNet. Many advancements in aviation technology are military-based. Most of the security advancements are done at military and prison levels.

Secondly, a major wave of innovation happens at the college level. MIT is a huge hotbed for new innovations in technology. I don't know how many times I have watched Modern Marvels on the History Channel, finding out how so many things had their roots in military programs and labs in college classrooms. Even the Golden Gate Bridge had its roots in a classroom and was later funded by government bonds and other "socialist" things until being taken over in part by the now-corrupt Bank of America as a measure to "help" the economy.

Even with all of this said, just what is so innovative that is coming out of today's market. Most of it seems to be so negative, it's almost disgusting. Here are 10 examples.

(1) SUVs - The most polluting vehicles on the planet that a consumer can own.

(3) Many drugs - We have so many drugs on the market for almost every little thing one can imagine. God forbid they ever find one to cure cancer. How much money would that cause the drug companies? I wonder if they would scramble to cover it up. That's great innovation.

(4) The Genome Project - The genome project and other genetic engineering methods. Planting insecticides in the middle of seeds. And how they love to dismiss anything organic or fair-trade.

(5) DDT - Yeah. Great one. Great innovation causes effects of DDT to be measured incorrectly in developed countries where DDT is not used.

(6) Asbestos - Possibly even worse than DDT. And yet free market love bugs like John Stossel use nearly ridiculous propaganda to encourage its use: The probability of more children dying is higher when at play during time schools are shut down for asbestos removal than the probability of illness acquired by asbestos.

(7) Catalytic Converter - A positive one, though it should be noted that its use did not appear heavily until stricter emission control regulations were enacted. An example of how government regulation can work. Other vehicular safety measures follow a similar suit, for the most part.

(8) Financial Instruments - Derivatives, subprimes, redlining, and other financial institution schemes that got us into this financial mess.

(9) Cigarettes - How the right-wing loves to protect one of the most nastiest, disgusting, and filthiest industries in existence.

(10) TransFats - Wow! TransFats! Mostly chemically-processed fats (under the guise of partially-hydrogenated fats).

I could go on.