Scott Gottlieb, M.D. and Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute

Scott Gottlieb, M.D., is a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. D.C. He's the author of "California's Stem Cell Follies," which was published a few hours ago on the Forbes.com web site.

Dr. Gottlieb spoke a few minutes ago with California Politics Today, discussing the major points in this article and elaborating on some of them.

The bottom line? "California's at risk of putting a lot of taxpayer money down a black hole here."

The essential point of Dr. Gottlieb's analysis is that venture capital, which has invested almost $4.5 billion in biotechnology this year, has not seen fit to invest very much of it in stem cell research because it simply isn't a good investment.

But because certain elements within the California political system see stem cell research as a viable "wedge issue" through which they can insert what they see as the politically-advantageous abortion issue into the current election campaign, California voters are on the brink of becoming possibly one of the largest investors ever of "dumb money," a Wall Street insiders' term for investments made without access to the best information.

Proposition 71, concludes Dr. Gottlieb, "is a waste of taxpayers' money."

You can hear Dr. Gottlieb's analysis of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Initiative, in its entirety by clicking here

You can visit Dr. Gottlieb's web page on the American Enterprise Institute's web site by clicking here.

You can read his "Advisor Soapbox" column on the Forbes.com web site by clicking here.