On Tuesday, August 13, 2013 10:58:47 PM UTC-7, Martha Adams wrote:
On 8/11/2013 3:05 AM, Brad Guth wrote:

On Saturday, August 10, 2013 11:55:27 AM UTC-7, Brad Guth wrote:

On Saturday, August 10, 2013 6:33:01 AM UTC-7, Martha Adams wrote:



big snip



Try to imagine what a trillion dollars per year (in 2013 dollars),

of public matching funds for off-world exploitations could have

accomplished, starting as of four decades ago. By now that incentive

would have amounted to 80+ trillion dollars invested and directly

benefitting each and everyone of us, as well as capable of salvaging

our global environment.



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For reason I don't understand, I'm seeing a lot of doublespacing

introduced here, along with very long lines not helpfully filled.

I just re-filled the above paragraph, which has in my view, a

very important point about space settlement, if maybe the numbers

are off by two or three orders of magnitude.



America's immense military budget is still shy of a trillion

dollars per year -- I think, officially it's around 700 billion.

I don't know the amount of money circulating thru the overseas

arms sales business, nor how to count the costs of political

and ideological corruptions. (A recently published book,

Leibovich, This Town, may bear on that matter.)



But *yes,* a few ten-billions of dollars as a stable program (held

safe from today's devastating political interventions) would

change our world very quickly. I see particularly, a growing

popular appreciation of the reality our species is vulnerable to

large astronomical events, see the current (Aug 10-16) issue of

New Scientist: Solar Superflares, p. 46 there. Vs today's social

awareness of Out There still believing our world is practically

all of the universe and it was made by a supernatural being who

bears perfect resemblance to the Father of a simplified and

idealized human family.



Titeotwawki -- Martha Adams [Wed 2013 Aug 14]

Our world spends roughly a trillion dollars per day on energy and energy related products and services. Much of what is getting spent on energy is based upon an ever increasing public and personal debt.