The money has to come from somewhere. Why shouldn't private spaceflight use our financial system's existing infrastructure for raising capital? In my mind, sp

The money has to come from somewhere. Why shouldn't private spaceflight use our financial system's existing infrastructure for raising capital? In my mind, spending tax dollars on space is fine for exploration and science. But when it comes to industrial development, letting the free market sort it out is a good thing -- if asteroid mining's profitable, this part of our space presence can become self-funding. As far as who owns what, I imagine the first successful exploitation of extraterrestrial resources will quickly be followed by the governments of countries with this capability hammering out some kind of international agreement on who can mine where.