“You can put all the lipstick on this pig you want. And whatever jobs are created, many will be overseas.”
Perhaps. Of course, given current policy (and the policies going back to the early 90s) many jobs are going overseas in almost every industry. So?
“The US is broke. We will be in no position to support a major space program.”
That depends on the strength of the economy going forward. If most of 0’s policies can be reversed, and capitalism takes off again, we could actually repay the national debt. However, that will take both political and (especially) public will.
“This privatization of the manned space program is just eyewash put out by Obama and his cronies. You are being sold a bill of goods that attempts to put a good face on a bad situation.”
You mean this contract that 0bama put in place in 2006? LOL
“The same thing is happening with national security. We are reducing our military with the rationalization that we now have a new strategy. No more capability to fight two wars at the same time or one and 1/2 wars. Costs are forcing our strategic withdrawal and the reduction of our forces. It is part of the guns versus butter battle that has played out in other welfare states. The UK, the Soviets, and Western Europe have made the decision that butter is more important, at least politically.”
Again, we’ll see after November. Don’t be such a defeatist.
On the other hand, you might want to take a look at how much we’re outspending the next several major powers put together on defense. Are we getting a good value for our tax dollars?
“Our space program is being scaled back and dismantled. We are told privatization will solve our problems. Nonsense. “
There are two different issues. One involves legitimate government interests in space, primarily scientific and military. The second involves the large-scale development and exploitation of space for our benefit. It makes a great deal of sense for commercial interests to take over this area at this point.
This is likely the beginning of a Golden Age of Space for the human race in general, and America in particular.
"Former astronaut Mark Kelly—perhaps best known as the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords—reveals in an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel that he initially was not a suporter of the Obama Administration’s change in direction for NASA. “I was not a fan at first of canceling the Constellation rocket program. I worried about what it would mean for NASA’s overall mission, and what it would do to the brilliant and patriotic men and women who work there,” he writes.
That assessment has changed, though, he says. “I’m impressed by how far SpaceX has come in the past 17 months,” he states, referring to the company’s Dragon test flight to the ISS this week. “The dramatic cost savings of commercial spaceflight — savings we need to reduce the deficit and grow our economy — let us expand the frontiers of space and stay at the forefront of technological innovation.”
He goes on to express support for various aspects of the administration’s efforts, from commercial crew to infrastructure upgrades at the Kennedy Space Center. “The president made a tough, bold decision — and I now believe he was right,” he concludes. Ironically, it was his wife who, in the debate on the NASA authorization act of 2010 on the House floor, spoke out against the bill that enshrined many elements of the administration’s plan into law."
The bottomline is that this decision is being driven by costs not what is best for this country. Let the rationalization begin.