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Private companies will never save us. They exist only to extract wealth. SpaceX is no exception, surviving off of taxpayer funds.
by nullindividual 3y ago
Private companies will never save us. They exist only to extract wealth. SpaceX is no exception, surviving off of taxpayer funds.
- szundi 3y agoThis is pretty shortsighted. Private money is perfect to make the same cheaper. Then consultants bring the knowledge to other companies. 20-50 years and everything is a commodity. After some time in kind of free markets the common people win.
- rqtwteye 3y agoI think with corporations becoming bigger and bigger the common people will win less. Markets only work with meaningful competition.
- swatcoder 3y ago> After some time in kind of free markets the common people win Any time now! It's a very elegant idea, but maybe not the most empirically robust.
- JanSt 3y agoSpaceX already is cheaper than NASA
- mmustapic 3y agoCheaper how? NASA doesn’t fly their own rockets or spaceships, so there’s no comparison.
- DarmokJalad1701 3y agoCheaper compared to what NASA used to spend (in R&D and/or launch costs) to put one of their astronauts or 1 kg of mass into orbit.
- soco 3y agoNot sure, are you comparing the costs of technology 50 years ago with the costs of today's technology? That's not a very valid comparison, to say the least. Not only technology as a whole evolved a lot to give you waaay more bang for the buck, but also everything done today is built on the shoulders of the giant investments made at the start of the space age. So please, let's not bring unfounded arguments for the sake of ideology.
- DarmokJalad1701 3y agoNot 50 years ago. See SLS for example. NASA is paying $146m PER engine (and the rocket has four, and fuel tanks, avionics , an upper stage, fairings, two solid rocket boosters ... ). An entire Falcon Heavy launch is <$100 million.
- rich_sasha 3y agoSort of, except not always. Compare to medical insurance in the US. Medical care in the US is both one of the most expensive and most privatised in the world.
- leesec 3y agoYou have an insane view of the world and SpaceX will be wildly profitable
- nullindividual 3y agoNo private company has saved me yet. We've all been waiting. For more than 100 years. Private companies will save us... like we'll have Linux on the Desktop. Any year, now.
- leesec 3y agoLol. Life is so much better than it was 100 years ago I don't even know what you're talking about.
- nullindividual 3y agoOf course it is, we have things like Social Security. Totally 100% attributable to companies.
- leesec 3y agoSocial Security doesn't even make the top 100 of why it's better than a 100 years ago.