A Million Ways to Get Rich Here Are Two:

Free market economies offer abundant opportunities for personal advancement and enrichment. Within the bio-energy field, two ways of making it big include producing the bio-energy yourself, or facilitating the production of bio-energy by someone else.

NextStep Biofuels Inc. plans to get wealthy via the production of cellulosic ethanol from tree-based waste products.

OMAHA, Neb. - NextStep Biofuels, Inc., an Omaha-based cellulosic ethanol development company, has signed a 20-year feedstock procurement contract with Arkansas-based wood processing giant The Price Companies.

The contract calls for The Price Companies to supply NextStep annually with up to 500,000 tons of woodchips, bark, pulpwood and other tree-based waste products for conversion into cellulosic ethanol.

“There are three key pieces to the cellulosic puzzle: technology, feedstocks and operations,” explains NextStep President Kevin Dretzka. “There are a lot of sharp companies out there with viable cellulosic technologies, but that doesn’t mean they know how to secure price-stable access to feedstocks, identify and permit sites in strategic locations or cost-effectively build and operate bio-refineries.” _Bioenergy

In the example above, The Price Companies plan to acquire more wealth by supplying NextStep with ample feedstock to meet production goals.

Two companies that plan to act as technology facilitators for bio-energy producers are Promethegen and Proteus. Promethegen specialises in advanced microbe technology for converting biomass feedstock to fuel.

Promethegen’s approach includes using genetically altered microbes that enhance the biomass fermentation-to-fuel process. The targeted biomass can be composed of a wide variety of organic matter, such as sugar cane or corn, cellulose or wood waste.

The company’s offering will include both the microbe technology and processes connected with the conversion, said Johnsen. It will be easier to sell Promethegen’s highly productive microbes and process improvements to the existing ethanol and biodiesel production plants instead of trying to build its own facilities, said Johnsen. _Bioenergy

Proteus is a biotech company specialising in producing valuable proteins and enzymes. It plans to team with Syngenta to produce special enzymes for next generation biofuels production.

Protéus is a worldwide recognized biotechnology company which focuses on the discovery, engineering and manufacturing of proteins of industrial interest, and on the development of innovative protein-based bioprocesses. The efficiency of Proteus' technology platform has been demonstrated by the successful track record of the company in the life sciences industry, including healthcare, chemistry (fine or specialty chemicals), environment and bioenergy.

Protéus reinforces the competitive edge of its clients by providing them new industrial solutions and new industrial property rights. The comprehensive offering of Protéus includes industrial manufacturing capabilities to accelerate the development, the industrialization and the time-to-market of its clients' new products.

In order to fulfill this mission, Protéus possesses unique proprietary technologies including an exclusive biodiversity (source of new genes), protein engineering tools (for the delivery of bespoke enzymes for industrial application) and a protein manufacturing platform, allowing use of proteins as new industrial biocatalysts.

_Bioenergy

So you see that some companies make the end product, and a host of other companies act as facilitators for the "producer." This type of relationship works all the way down the line in a market economy, as the facilitators are themselves "producers" who utilise facilitating companies themselves.

It is important to teach children such market relationships as they grow older -- particularly children who display an interest or aptitude in business or entrepreneurship.

In socialist societies, the best way to achieve financial security is by working one's way up the bureaucracy to a nice sinecured position. Maximum security, minimum risk. Of course, in a socialist society a lot of other things are minimised -- desirable things.

Obama brings greatly expanded socialism to the US. This will reduce the type of widespread innovation and risk taking that causes market economies to be so dynamic and unpredictable. The country will suffer and the world will suffer. But who will ever know? (what might have been)