> The history of the airframe industry is filled with huge bankruptcies. It's a very volatile, high risk business.
Not at the scale of Boeing. They can survive a failed project, and a failed project is very expensive but most Boeing projects don't fail.
The hard part about long-term research is that most foundational research projects do fail to commercialize and you have to stick it out until you get the one success that makes up for all the failures.
> And that's exactly what the proponents of the short-term profit theory complain that businesses are not doing.
They complain that businesses are not investing enough in long-term research, which is what they are not doing.
Yes, at the scale of Boeing. I am familiar with the industry, and it is anything but "safe". Boeing took an incredible risk with the 747. And if Boeing screws up today, Airbus will have them for breakfast.
Not at the scale of Boeing. They can survive a failed project, and a failed project is very expensive but most Boeing projects don't fail.
The hard part about long-term research is that most foundational research projects do fail to commercialize and you have to stick it out until you get the one success that makes up for all the failures.
> And that's exactly what the proponents of the short-term profit theory complain that businesses are not doing.
They complain that businesses are not investing enough in long-term research, which is what they are not doing.