Lack of funding is not the real problem

[Jed Rothwell]

We all know that there is no funding for cold fusion research. Not 
millions, not even a few hundred thousand dollars, not $10,000. In 
the future, people may wonder why. It is not because we lack money or 
skilled researchers.

The US has a tremendous federal budget shortage and a trade deficit, 
but these are a matter of choice. They are the result of policies set 
by leaders who feel that deficits are not a serious problem. The U.S. 
has plenty of money in other parts of the  economy. The GDP is 
approximately $13 trillion. 
(http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2006/gdp106p.pdf) Many 
corporate CEOs nowadays earn millions or even hundreds of millions of 
dollars per year. We could easily spare a few million for cold fusion 
research. Hostility and fear are preventing research, not any 
fundamental lack of resources. There is such enormous opposition to 
cold fusion that it would be career suicide for any mainstream 
researcher to study it, or even talk about it. Until we break through 
this wall of opposition, there is no point to discussing $10 million 
X-prizes for cold fusion. (The situation is quite different for 
conventional breakthroughs for things like plug-in hybrids. An 
X-prize might work for that, although I would prefer research grants, 
as I said.)

- Jed