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You know, sometimes it would be better to just let market forces do their thing. The downstream effects will be interesting and far reaching.

Not sure if that is a good or bad thing.

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If you let the markets do their thing, you'll get a combination of actors focused on all timescales: some trying to get returns this year, some over the next 5 years, some over the next 50 years.

However, sometimes the actions taken by those seeking 1- or 5-year returns actually decrease the total amount of returns available over the 50 year horizon. This is a tragedy of the commons situation, and it may behoove a government to step in and remove the incentives for the short-term investors so that society can reap an overall larger profit.

Whether this is one of those cases I do not know.

It's not like markets just decide to do things. Simplistically the market responds to supply/demand. If the Germans guarantee a few million cars' worth of demand to those who develop non-ICE cars, people will respond and create the supply. It's a bit of a cludge but progress isn't guaranteed, it must be chased and earned.

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