Our Sponsors
____________________
Note: Comments are moderated so be sure that your responses are expressed in a respectable and friendly way. We are here to express our thoughts toward controversial issues, not to scold or defame anyone. Watch what you say, and remember that by using this site, you agree to our Terms Of Use and Privacy Policy.
We pretty much do since we are the only country that can actually fund and develop the necessary technology to take on such advanced missions.
No, Dennis Hope does:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/0…
Wow!!!!!
Wake up kid, your "Messiah" has canceled all further funding to the NASA moon return project. We ain't going back.
Furthermore, we needed the international community to help fund and build the ISS.
By the end of 2012 we will be one of those "fourth world" countries that you and SunTzu like so much – Market and Marxist driven into the ditch.
I sure Hope (pun intended) that those 3.5 or so million folks who gave Dennis all that money for Lunar real estate don't try to get their money back . . . . . Some folks just go ahead and by a pig in a poke even when it looks, feels and are told that it is a pig in a poke!
Nobody can own a interstellar object. Why? That is pretty simple . . . . . .
God made it and God owns it – Including this little blue marble in space called Earth.
So you don't own any property then?
I haven't seen any market economies drive themselves into a ditch except when they abandon markets for central planning. Chile seems to have had a pretty good run up into the OECD range of development from basically nowhere, much of Europe is moving farther "right" economically (austerity programs and budgetary controls, particularly Germany and the UK), I expect that to go pretty well really, and Hong Kong and Singapore are still generally kicking butt.
The problem is that whenever there's a problem like the last two years especially, democratic societies tend to panic and demand more interference. Hayek pointed that out about 70 years ago in some dusty old book that some crazy guy who you seem to like wants you to read.
We don't fund such things and we're not the only country that could. The EU, Russia, India, China, Japan, all have large economies and the technology to launch rockets into space for something like a moon trip.
The reason they don't is that it's a general waste of money to spend government funding on trips to the moon.
Actually I think if you'll do a bit of research you'll find no-one has lunar capable rockets right now. Yes we can achieve orbit with our current rocket technology; but anything capable of putting an object into lunar orbit is a) gone (i.e. the Saturn V) or b) currently unfinished (and probably staying that way for a while).
The technology exists and isn't that much more complex than orbital and suborbital rockets. It didn't take us that long to put it into practice. The problem isn't technology. It's that it's an expensive use of money for that technology for little or no practical gains. There's kind of a pride of humanity or pride of country thing and that's it.
Maybe it's cheaper and better to send rockets to the moon than to bomb other countries in the great game of nations for sating nationalistic demands. But I'd have to question both for their motives much of the time.
Nope. We (including you) just "rent" it from the county tax assessor. Or the bank. Or both.
Don't believe me? Then try not paying your property taxes and see how fast they take it from you!
Many, many, many years ago my step-dad used to brag that he never paid a penny in taxes. The government took his business, the house, his car, and all his tools. I had to take emergency leave and a six month advance in pay to go get him and my Mom a place to live and a job to work. After a long heart to heart talk with him, he decided to pay his taxes from then on. He never reimbursed me for rescuing him, though, and I never asked him to. They both passed away two years later.
The gist of that little story is that we do not own anything because we are usually making payments to the bank or to the tax assessor – miss any of those and they will take it all.
It's not quite as simple as orbital rocketry when you factor in the extra lift-off weight of an extra-orbital vehicle and the added thrust needed to raise the heavier load. Then balance in the extra fuel needed to get the job done, and the added weight of that which is not negligible. I'm just saying we don't have a rocket that takes us to the moon right now, and we couldn't test one for several years at least. And that's not even considering the complexity of the multistage rockets needed, nor their programming or mechanical operations….
But it is also not the point you were trying to make here. It would certainly be ethically "cheaper" to concern ourselves with rockets and exploration rather than bombing other countries. But bullets are pretty cheap!
The government is not god, so which is it?.
And "property" can extend to other things beyond your taxable interests in land ownership. Paying taxes on land, or rather, not paying them, is hardly indicative that you do not own it or do not possess rights on how you may operate that ownership.
You might want to start instead complaining about zoning boards and eminent domain than taxation.
Ever hear the saying "What the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away"? According to our best guestimates (scientifically speaking) good ol` Sol will go nova in about five hundred billion years or so, or maybe less. (God speaks and everybody listens)
Until then our governments will do there best to imitate the God they would like to think they are.
I think its rude to blame God for everything… A thousand years ago man was putting out camp fires, today we put out forest fires. Maybe a thousand years from now we will know how to put out novas. Heck, they already do it on Star Trek. Be optimistic.
On the other hand, if the US owned the moon, we would likely be arguing about whether or not to drill for oil in Tycho crater.
Did you know that different countries already own different parts of the Solar system? Yeah so when we get to outter space and can get to those planets and moons they will mine resources on the planets/moons. I know it sounds crazy but im telling the truth. And i dont think the United States "owns" the moon because we only think about us when we look at it, we dont think about what other countries seeing the moon so we forget that the rest of the world can se the moon so its bassically the entire earths. And Papadawg, a new secret project has already started for new space exploration. They wouldnt stop the Shuttle project unless they had a new project going. People would lose hope that we would ever get to outter space.
Of course we own the moon. Why wouldnt we own it??!?!
Why would we own it? The moon doesnt just revolve around America.
You should spend more time speeding up this site than asking silly questions.
Getting the Boot – in 3…2…….