Politics of space funding

A lot of good points here... There is a lot of truth in what you say,
but I think it is just the reason needed for the push to "nationalize"
and "internationalize" all these major endeavors in space.. There's
plenty of room for private industries.. In fact, I think their
involvement is crucial in a thriving "space based" economy.. But it's
true that nobody is going to invest 100s of billions of dollars in
something that may not return a profit in their lifetime.. Plus it's a
whole "infrastructure" that needs built, not just a few SPSs or
another ISS.. Even with the "hotels" and tourism stuff won't put
enough money into space to do the things we need..

I'm afraid to say that "politics" is the only way to make this
happen.. It's true that it seems difficult to think about spending all
this money on space when most people in the world can barely afford to
feed themselves.. But it's just those kinds of tough choices that
invest in the future.. And maybe we can't house and feed all the
worlds people, but maybe some of their children will have the
opportunity to have a better life.. Or maybe their children's
children.. I look at it like taking "action" to develop preventative
solutions to some of these problems.. Instead of "reacting" to the
problems after the damage is already done... It's about changing the
way we think about the future. And how we prepare for it.. "Future
Shock" is a good term to describe this.. I think most people don't
realize that the future happens much faster than it used too.. We used
to be able to think about it for a while, talk it over, weigh out all
the options, write some books about it, and wait 20 30 40 50 years for
it to happen.. Now things change so rapidly, most people are still
trying to understand technologies that are already 10 to 20 years
old.. Even most of the people that are so called "tech savvy" are 5
years behind the curve.. Amazing things are coming out of our
universities, labs, and private R&Ds every single day.. We just need
to get these things on the market much faster and invest more into
making this happen..

Putting money into wars and extreme amounts of defense, is last
centuries strategy.. That's over.. We need to set a new strategy for
this century and ones to come (if we make it that far)..

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "gale white"