what we really need to go into space

--- In ssi_list@... "Valens Agnitio"

> Today I met with one of the economic strategists for Lord Abbot
funds, and
> had a very interesting conversation with him about capatilism.
Plainly
> speaking, it is by far the most effective way of raising standards
of living
> and producing the economies necessary for (keyword here) SUSTAINED
growth
> that will support the types of efforts we all want to see. Space
endeavors
> are, at the moment, very costly and require large amounts of many
things,
> including capital. The time scales necessary for the sustained
development
> of Space Faring absolutely require a sustained economic support.
Without it,
> the resulting stagnation will result in resources being diverted
to other
> things necessarily. This is economics 101.
>
> Perhaps TangoMan would care to elaborate?

Capitalism will indeed work wonders, but only when there is profit
to be found in orbital endeavors. Right now, we've got money being
made on Earth from orbiting satellites. As I've written before, I
don't see any nexus in orbit.

Further, I'm not holding my breath for a bootstrapping approach
leading to any substantive commerce in orbit. The interconnectedness
required for even a marginal economy to take form is beyond most
individual efforts.

With a bootstrapping approach, there will always be alternative
investment opportunities here on Earth that will have greater
returns because they won't have to finance externalities or take on
non-core functions in order to enable their core process.

Capitalism operates under the good graces of government. Government
sets the rules and enforces them. The markets will develop in such
an environment. That said, I think it will be incumbent upon
governments to set the conditions from which markets can develop.
For that to happen crony capitalism has to be curtailed. If we count
on NASA and those suckling at its teat to do the job, we'll just see
a money pit open up that we can ill afford.

I see this as a classic chicken-egg problem but for those who've
been around awhile, they already know my opinion on these matters :)

We need an invisible body to which we can attach Smith's invisible
hand.

Val, is this something along the line of what you wanted?

TangoMan