Wired 11.06: 'If We Run Out of Batteries, This War is Screwed.' Equiping the army at Office depot and more. It used to be that the "commons" included research for the military. After its use in the service of protecting our armed forces, the technologies developed at public expense, would be leased or sold to private enterprise for development as consumer products. Now it seems the government funds private enterprise indirectly through tax breaks, and when the technology is developed privately, it is sold to the government by the corporations...