At some point, that risk-taking private capital can take over, and have patents and trade secrets and things that let them lead the way, which happened with the steam engine and some other things, although with energy, the time of adoption is a lot longer than it is with, say, IT products or even medical advances, like drugs and vaccines.
Bill GatesContrary to Pikettyโs rentier hypothesis, I donโt see anyone on the [Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans] whose ancestors bought a great parcel of land in 1780 and have been accumulating family wealth by collecting rents ever since. In America, that old money is long gone - through instability, inflation, taxes, philanthropy, and spending.
Bill GatesI think we knew that this would be just like raising the kids together, this would be a fun thing to do in partnership. And you know, we're so lucky because we get to hire in very smart people. We get to partner with governments like the Canadian Development Organization - CIDA, USAID - tonnes of scientists doing this work. This is fascinating.
Bill GatesOur flame is taking the normal depleted uranium - the 99.3 percent that's cheap as heck, and there's a pile of it sitting in Paducah, Kentucky that's enough to power the United States for hundreds and hundreds of years. You're taking that and you are converting it to plutonium - and then you're burning that.
Bill Gates