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From: dietz@SLB-DOLL.CSNET (Paul Dietz)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: Shooting Money into Space
Message-ID: <8602241622.AA01535@s1-b.arpa>
Date: Mon, 24-Feb-86 10:07:14 EST
Article-I.D.: s1-b.8602241622.AA01535
Posted: Mon Feb 24 10:07:14 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Feb-86 20:10:29 EST
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Organization: The ARPA Internet
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>  Note that the 2 billion dollars is not being shot into space.  The
>money is staying right here on Earth, where it is benefiting hundreds
>of thousands of people directly.  It is of course benefiting all
>mankind in the long run, unlike two months of feeding Ethiopia.

Not to criticize money spent developing useful products, but money
itself is merely a placeholder for wealth.  Real wealth is in the
physical products, services and knowledge produced by an activity.  Note
that while NASA employees (and subcontractors) do spend the 2 billion
dollars generating jobs locally, the taxpayers from whom the money
was obtained can no longer spend it, leading to a compensating loss
of jobs elsewhere.  What's being consumed by NASA is the skill of
its employees and the skills of the employees of its contractors
(plus some raw materials); the employees would otherwise be involved
in (say) designing consumer electronics.  (Whether VCR's are more
valuable than space stations is a matter of taste.)