Billionaire Space Shots

[mapper]

Not expressing an opinion on whether or not billionaires going to space is good or bad. I grew up watching the space program from John Glenn's first flight to landing on the moon. It was exciting and led to a lifelong love of spaceflight and the potential of space colonization. NASA continued making progress up to the space shuttle, which was intended to be a test bed for further development. That never happened, progress slowed to almost a complete halt, we ended up having to depend on the Russians for getting personnel to and from the International Space Station. We as a nation decided that further development was too expensive, we would rather spend our tax dollars elsewhere.
Other posts have mentioned the fact that the billionaires want to exploit the potential resources in space which belong to everyone, well we decided we didn't want to pursue them as a nation, so it kind of leaves the field open for whoever gets there first. Will it be our billionaires or the Chinese, India or the Russians?
When the national space program was in its heyday the tax rates on personal income were incredibly high (90+%) for the very wealthy. This has changed and allowed the growth of incredible personal wealth for a small percentage of our population. They now are the ones who can afford to pursue the dream of space travel, exploration and colonization.
Will this be good for the rest of us? Only time will tell.

 

[txdon]

BEZOS BECOMES ASTRONAUT

at 10:20 when the capsule is about 10' off the ground at the landing do some boosters fire off to soften the landing? I see a lot of sand blowing right before it hits the ground.

 

[bigtiller]

at 10:20 when the capsule is about 10' off the ground at the landing do some boosters fire off to soften the landing? I see a lot of sand blowing right before it hits the ground.

Yes, but my tv said they fired at 20 feet.

 

[ruffdog]

Maybe the rich should just stay on earth and buy stainless steel rabbits for $91.1 million? Sad....

Rabbit (Koons) - Wikipedia

 

[Fuddy1952]

Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet. Folks still dislike and don't trust them. Go figure.....

P. T. Barnum
Not sticking a cigar in anyone's balloon but thought provoking, oosik & mapper.
In one sense the flight was pretty amazing but as Jeff Bezos said: up there you see how fragile the Earth is, which to me (please, I'm being apolitical) makes me think of the green new deal, etc. Not to say we shouldn't take care of our planet, but I guess a cure for diabetes, cancer, etc. wouldn't have the same Wow effect.
It just makes me wonder about priorities and what's the long term agenda?

 

[MoKelly]

P. T. Barnum
Not sticking a cigar in anyone's balloon but thought provoking, oosik & mapper.
In one sense the flight was pretty amazing but as Jeff Bezos said: up there you see how fragile the Earth is, which to me (please, I'm being apolitical) makes me think of the green new deal, etc. Not to say we shouldn't take care of our planet, but I guess a cure for diabetes, cancer, etc. wouldn't have the same Wow effect.
It just makes me wonder about priorities and what's the long term agenda?
Amazing the richest person on Earth pays no federal taxes.

The taxes thing is Fake News.

He pays taxes just like you and me on stock he sells. There is no magic here. He pays capital gains just like anyone.

Read carefully the media reports of him paying no taxes. They are talking about the increase in his Amazon stock value in 2020. Then they say he paid no taxes on that huge gain. Duh!

Well - no one pays taxes on unrealized gains in stocks. No one gets a tax deduction for unrealized losses in stocks.

The media reports are a push to say “the rich should pay taxes on unrealized gains in stocks”.

There is always an agenda.

MoKelly

 

[Darryle]

How fragile while I blast off in my weiner rocket

These self absorbed people are so disconnected from reality, makes millions using tons of electricity, fuel, trees and mined plastics to ship all his goodies all over the world, and then puts the cherry on top with his rocket.

 

[MoKelly]

Now that rockets are sufficient to get into orbit, we need to focus on tractor beams!
It seems they have been trying to grow corn in space as well. Some farmer just fertilized a small batch with Lysergic acid diethylamide and submitted it and named it “Space Corn”.

Or “beam me up” technology!

Image not having to drive or fly anywhere again!

MoKelly

 

[Fuddy1952]

I edited out the taxes last sentence, irrelevant anyway to my point (Billionaires and taxes depends on Forbes, Politico, etc source).
My main point and many agree there are plenty of good things the super rich can spend their money on which is why the P. T. Barnum reference.

Is this "space flight" truly to benefit mankind, is it putting on a show, is it political or an inflated ego display?
One day even the uber rich will be on their death bed. Is it better to look back thinking with my vast wealth I made space travel possible for the masses or a cure for cancer/diabetes/alzheimers was discovered ending massive suffering.
The super rich can leave behind a fortune in real estate and possessions, or they could be remembered as helping others.
Just thought provoking is all.

 

[jjp8182]

Not to stir the pot too much, but from what I've seen sometimes "helping" others is the fastest way to cripple them for life.

Basically the old statement about giving a person a fish vs. teaching them to fish. While some may prefer to always be given "fish", if they never learn to "fish" for themselves what happens when all the benefactors who were giving them "fish" are no longer able to do so? (for whatever reason).

Not saying helping others is a bad thing, but the nature of the "help" really needs to be considered...

As for the "super rich", I find it rather fascinating just how quickly a massive family fortune can be spent - especially if the heirs never really learned the value of money by having to work for it.