Bootstrapping Hawaii

> As a rule of thumb it's true. However the Channel tunnel was
funded, and
> until it opened, no baby steps would have created it. It's very
likely
> to be long-term sustainable now it's open, (although the Japanese
banks
> that funded it took a bath, since the repayment is going to be
much
> longer than they hoped.)
>
> OTOH it took more than 200 years to get funded, so I'm not
entirely sure
> that that's not the exception that proves the rule :-)

Eureka. I like the example of the Chunnel because it illustrates the
point that some projects must be looked at as a totality and cannot
be implmented in a piecemeal fashion.

Once the project is completed the benefits and spin-offs accrue.

That's the point I'm at now. I don't see bootstrapping on a project-
by-project basis, non inter-related, leading to much other than a
whole series of self-sufficient orbiting projects.

I think that there needs to be a guiding hand, a consortium, and an
orbital economy that will reward orbital buyers and sellers as they
develop what we all want to see there.

I don't see a whole bunch of pull yourself up by your bootstraps
entrepreneurs achieving anything sustainable.

What does taking tourists on suborbital hops do for the big picture?

TangoMan