Bill Frezza of Adams Capital writes on Uncle Sam Takes Over the VC Business. It is not a cheery piece:
The discipline of venture financing and the winnowing process of early stage failure are being skipped as politically favored projects go directly to large scale project financing. New constituencies whose survival depends on the uninterrupted flow of federal largess are sprouting up like weeds, funneling a percentage of that money back to the Congressmen who keep the whole thing going. The antiquated theory that in order for a business or industry to be sustainable it must create more wealth than it consumes is being discarded in favor of the belief that if you fervently hope for something good to come true, then it will.
Read the whole thing -- several times.