Peter Thiel was interviewed by Francis Fukuyama (he of the “End of History”).  The interview is well worth reading as it contains a lot of provocative thoughts.  I agree with Thiel that the US government has lost its ability to achieve the kind of progress represented by the great public works projects or the Apollo program.  I disagree though on the causes for this believing that it is primarily due to the pervasive influence of special interests and money in politics.  I also don’t agree that we are really experiencing a dramatic slowdown in progress (or “technological stagnation”).  Thiel provides some interesting examples but there are equally compelling counter examples, such as the dramatic drop in the cost of gene sequencing. OK - enough typing for this morning.