There was no shortage of venture capital to sustain the high tech bubble based on business models that derived future revenue from something as arcane as “content.” Charlie Rose interviewed Ester Dyson and Jerry Yang and suddenly “content” was all the rage. Now Boone Pickens says the Yahoo management is “pathetic.”

Times change.

I still don’t understand where the venture capital is or the fixation with government subsidies? Economists claim that the ethanol subsidy in this country cannot be easily phased out without severe disruption to Midwest financial institutions. I can see the headlines now. Crisis in the Heartland.

I have my suspicions but so far they are all conspiratorial. If that is the best answer out there, then this is indeed one big con and nothing else.

The one “outlier” explanation is that the process of decentralizing electricity supply is flying under the public radar because the projects are, by definition, small. Not big trillion dollar investments. Except for the Pickens Plan – the only one of its kind. But the other pieces are coming together in smaller venues – electric cars in CA, improvements in battery technology, research in fuel cells and the search for hydrogen, putting the finishing touches on oil shale extraction technology.

In my view, government must play a role, particularly to focus the ramp-up of long-term nuclear and interim “bridge” supplies that remove foreign obligations, but I am at the same time disappointed in the lack of vibrancy in the market economy. Especially disappointing because the forward-looking initiative of management seems anemic when contrasted to the productivity improvements of labor that have sustained economic performance since about 2000, and more recently have sustained growth at just above recession levels.

There’s a lot going on and a lot of things noticeable for their absence.