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Nobody will mind having spent $78 million if, in fact, water is discovered on the moon. Unfortunately, that's just--pardon the expression--the tip of the iceberg...
First off, who has rights to that water? The United States, as discoverer? Next problem: what do we do with our new discovery? Colonize the moon and take advantage of that water at its source, or devise a system for transporting it back to Earth? In either of those cases, $78 million would pale into insignificance given the costs of either colonization or transport.
Nobody will mind having spent $78 million if, in fact, water is discovered on the moon. Unfortunately, that's just--pardon the expression--the tip of the iceberg...
First off, who has rights to that water? The United States, as discoverer? Next problem: what do we do with our new discovery? Colonize the moon and take advantage of that water at its source, or devise a system for transporting it back to Earth? In either of those cases, $78 million would pale into insignificance given the costs of either colonization or transport.
Actually we have plenty of water here. It's having water *there* that matters as it could support human activities there - drinking, creating fuel, etc. Hauling water from here to there would be extremely expensive and difficult in any significant quantity.
But if we do find it there, some part of the govenment (cough, libs, cough) will no doubt either find a way to tax it or give it away to foreign interests.
The money spent on space exploration is spent right here on Earth. It's not like the rockets are being filled with money and sent into space. It pays for engineering, building, support, etc. - all which plies right back into the economy as the engineers and contractors spend it on mortgages, food, clothes, education for their children... For our money, we get knowledge which is applicable to bettering other parts of life. Does anyone think that cutting funding is going to increase their take-home pay each week because NASA didn't launch something?
I did check the NASA.gov website and saw that there's a link to the Spinoffs information I mentioned earlier. Look under "NASA In Your Life".
The money spent on space exploration is spent right here on Earth. It's not like the rockets are being filled with money and sent into space. It pays for engineering, building, support, etc. - all which plies right back into the economy as the engineers and contractors spend it on mortgages, food, clothes, education for their children...
This is a poorly understood concept that few people are able to consider, and it applies to almost everything. The government doesn't "waste" money, it simply redistributes it in the hope that a tangible benefit results.
The same thing can be said for the war in Iraq, aid to college students, $75 screwdrivers, or free abortions for everyone. The money stays right here in our own economy and circulates.
This is a poorly understood concept that few people are able to consider, and it applies to almost everything. The government doesn't "waste" money, it simply redistributes it in the hope that a tangible benefit results.
The same thing can be said for the war in Iraq, aid to college students, $75 screwdrivers, or free abortions for everyone. The money stays right here in our own economy and circulates.
Well, OK, except for the fact that the war in Iraq results in deaths that a simple redistribution of money probably wouldn't.
when our grandchildren arnt going to have Social Security monies
Take your SS check and invest it. Turn it over to your grandchildren and 50 years. They'll be rich.
As for the moon "bombing"... it will have no net effect on earth-moon system. Like others said, its a drop in the bucket. I was hoping we would have an expedition to Mars in my lifetime. Even though I'm young, I just don't see it happening.
Take your SS check and invest it. Turn it over to your grandchildren and 50 years. They'll be rich.
When my dad started having kids during the depression, he bought life insurance. The agent came around to the door every week to collect the 15-cent premium, and some weeks that 15-cents just wasn't there, without depriving the family of milk or something. He died in 1993, and the insurance paid off. $1,000. It made us rich.
NASA and space exploration has had more than its share of Doubting Thomas's since I was a kid in the 50s. "Too much money!"
I never believed it then and still don't. I'd much rather see money dumped into space exploration, including the moon, than into many, many programs that are currently getting it. (I'm not going to expand on what programs, as that's off topic.)
If you MUST look at it as a financial investment, fine. It's brought us life as we know it today -- worldwide communications of all kinds, more accurate weather forecasting, and innumerable advances in science technology and medicine.
Just as an example, I lived in Anchorage, Alaska at the time of the first moon landing. As I recall, that was the first live telecast to Alaska from the "Lower 48." Now, thanks to our satellites, we can see what's going on at any place on Earth as it's happening. And we take it for granted. It's old hat.
But I'd be in favor of increasing space exploration even if there was no financial payback. The better we understand the Universe, the better we can understand our own planet and keep it healthy. That's a bargain at any price.
Take your SS check and invest it. Turn it over to your grandchildren and 50 years. They'll be rich.
As for the moon "bombing"... it will have no net effect on earth-moon system. Like others said, its a drop in the bucket. I was hoping we would have an expedition to Mars in my lifetime. Even though I'm young, I just don't see it happening.
Investment can work over the long run for disciplined people. It is not the panacea that is claimed though and it does not work all people. The key element in investing that is often overlooked is that of "timing". Bad timing on investments will negate just about everything else.
For example, if you invested $1000 in the average Nasdaq stock in 1999, today ten years later you would have $440.00. If you invested $1,000 in 1999 in the average DOW stock you would have the very same amount in 2009, $1000. The average 5 year return on mutual funds right now has been a minus five percent.
You would have done better with your money in the bank earning 1-2% interest and your money would have been protected by FDIC.
I'm not saying don't invest. I am saying that its not the guaranteed path to wealth and riches that financial planners claim it is.
Last I checked NASA has not contracted space exploration to an extraterrestrial corporation. I would like to see at least one third of the military budget transferred to NASA and another third to energy development with the last third supporting a military designed to defend the US and not created to support our failing overseas investment empire.
Do we really need to spend 78 million of the tax payers money to bomb the moon to see if there is water on it?? Everybody is going crazy!!!!!!!
I'm just really happy to know that, if we do have people living on the moon and they get out of line, we can easily kill them all with a missile.
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