[tricky_k_1972]

In the era when AOL can absorb Time-Warner for $166 billion we can still talk about $5 chits. It's a miracle.

Yes, but were talking about "$5 chits" across the entire US, and it's all voluntary.

[RightWhale]

I heard some 'poor guy' complaining that he couldn't get out of Houston because he couldn't cash his GovCheck. That's who would buy the $5 tickets. There is no way anything can possibly beat the corporations. The Big 100, or Big 500, might be Big enough to do outer space development. What is the corporate status of Rutan? I'll tell you, once you go corporate, the individual is out of the loop. Be on the Board of Directors, or be an employee, the Corporation will kick the individual out even if the move would be considered suicidal to business. See, corporations are inherently immortal. Sony will survive even without its guiding genius and no iPod. GM will survive even without its soul or hybrid drivetrain. Corporations will look at outer space as soon as they can get some property rights; the $5 guy doesn't know anything about property rights or corporations.

[NicknamedBob]

Imagine that a typical taxpayer decides to plunk $25 into this "lottery." Even without an interest in space exploration, he knows that he can probably unload a winning ticket for upwards of a million dollars, and I've suggested that income be tax-free!

People would be jumping on it from the lottery aspect alone!

I'd have multiple winners, with perhaps every ten millionth $5 ticket being chosen at random. That's fifty million for a ride into space for someone, and who cares about who it might be? Ten million to one odds against winning, but a tax-free million if you do! Not a bad lottery!