"Scott Lowther" wrote in message
...
Pete Lynn wrote:

Just because the returns of some projects can be
very long term and very distributed does not mean
that they do not have to be profitable.

Yeah? Let us all know when the US Air Force turns a
profit.

Are you suggesting that the US economy would be more profitable over the
long term without the US Air Force?

What I find particularly offensive is that the $100
billion wasted by this government affiliated
monopolistic power group

Not much point in trying to make sense of anything
past this point. NASA is not a monopoly on space
power.

No, on space funding.

I would suggest that NASA currently gets a monopolistic proportion of
total space frontier commercialisation funding, public and private. NASA
launch vehicle development funding swamps that of the start ups.

NASA has a critical supporting role to play in opening up the space
frontier, but it should not, and obviously can not, do
commercialisation, and commercialisation is the necessary next step.

Not only is NASA picking winners, but it is again picking itself as a
winner. In spite of the conflict of interest and considerable evidence
to the contrary.

Pete.