Ian Parker wrote:

:On 13 Jan, 21:47, (Joseph Nebus) wrote:
: Michael Gallagher writes:
: Sticker shock is one possility, but why would politicians who shelve
: ouy $1 trillion in bailouts shirk at $50 billion or $500 billion
: spread out over decades to actually go someplace in space? *Is there
: something else going on, some psycholigical aversion to goint to far
: from "mother Earth"? *Did they just watch ALIEN a few times too many?
: What?
:
: * * * * Assume that a Mission To Mars works right. *I'll even give you
: it coming in on time and within range of the original budget estimates,
: even though those traits have not been among those that past major
: space projects have been renowned for. *How many people benefit, and
: how much do they benefit? *How soon do these benefits arrive? *Do these
: benefits outweigh the costs? *What of these benefits could be achieved
: with a lesser expense? *How inconvenient would it be it to wait for
: these benefits? *
:
:Yes, but if you do "public works" people will get employed whatever
:you do. You opnly get Keynsian benefits if what you have gone into
:debt for earns you money.
:

Wrong.

:
:A manned expedition to Mars is unlikely to
:earn any money.
:

Perhaps not directly, but there will be spin offs.

:
:The sort of project you want from the stand-point of Keynes is a big
:construction project. Like the Hoover dam.
:

Keynes doesn't care what government spends the money on. You
obviously fail to understand basic economics, as you fail to
understand SO many things.

snip A.S.S. meandering

:
:You have to use the resources of space, you have to mine robotically.
:

Why? We don't have to mine robotically here on Earth. Why do you
think space is different?

:
:You simply cannot afford to send astronauts to the Asteroid belt, or
:at least not in significant numbers.
:

Then you simply cannot afford to develop robotic mining ships and send
them to the asteroid belt in significant numbers, either.

:
:If you are going to get benefits
:from space they will be technological benefits.
:

Why? Sudbury, Canada, already gets huge benefits from the use of
space resources.

:
:What benefits would be
:be looking for? Benefits in robotics would be high on the list.
:

Only if we follow your circular logic.

:
:In
oint of fact a lot of work is being done with no space applications
:in mind.
:
:People in the group seem to want to persuade us that there are no
:benefits in that direction. One might ask, what benefits are there in
:any direction.
:
:On the Apollo project a minicomputer was used when Apollo was on the
:dark side of the Moon. This did give a stimulus to minicomputer
:development. As I said everyone seems to be trying to persuade us that
:no benefits of that kind would accrue.
:

Yet you gibber on about how manned space flight will provide no
benefits.

Hint: You're not supposed to start with your conclusion and then
reason backward....


--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn