Bezos Flight

[Ready]

... spending this kind of personal money on personal projects... building a personal space program... is EXACTLY how the uber rich used to give back to society as well... ever hear of a major rail line being installed by the US government? (yes there are a few tiny examples....) but the all the "greats" who helped pump moneys into our infrastructure were in their own times exactly like the current uber rich.

(where do you think all the money to make the rocket go to? Bezos did not pay himself to build a rocket, he gave money to tens of thousands of people to built his rocket - this is how they pump money and intellectual advancement into a capitalist society.)

RAILROADS...
Beginning in the 1830s, the United States government granted railroads thousands of miles of rights-of-way across the public lands. In 1850, Congress began to further subsidize the construction of certain railroads by granting them title to millions of acres of the public lands. By the late 1860s, however, the public came to vehemently oppose giving vast tracts of the public domain away to railroads. As a con-
sequence, in 1871, Congress ceased granting subsidy lands to railroads. Federal grants of railroad rights-of-way, though, continued well into the twentieth century.

That's how the government built railroads. Read your fing history.

Taxpayer Subsidies to Amazon Now Exceed $3.7 Billion

 

[BigNate]

Ready... yes, read the fine print and you can show that every single taxpaying American could show some financial support to the early railroads. I DO read history. I was not looking to nit-pick all the minutia. However, the railroads and other infrastructure such as banking, telecommunications, etc, could not have been built without HUGE amounts of investment and resources supplied by visionaries doing whatever they could to further their own personal wealth - albeit there were some other motivations as well... But I can absolutely guarantee you that the railroad barons did not just build the railroads for charity toward the future of America... it was for personal gain first. (and if we completely scrutinize the financials, by what amount are the uber rich subsidized by the government today? When a corporate billionaire can find enough deductions and loopholes to pay less taxes than someone with less than 0.01% of their wealth, that means they are being subsidized. However, this is not necessarily bad as all the tax and wages they pay to citizens can be directly tied back to the business venture... this is how capitalism works, and it appears we decide to give a few visionaries giant financial breaks which in turn helps keep the whole system working - though the deeper you dig the more amazed you will be that the system works as well as it does....)

 

[Gino]

So, is what you're saying is....... this travel and space flight into outter space is like building the railroads across America ?? Hmmm....... it could happen.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

It's all stupid. Too much time money and ego.

 

[Stacey K]

I see no issues with him spending his money the way he wants. He worked hard to make it, just like the rest of us. I've listened to plenty of my renters complain about me going on vacation etc. and then saying I obviously have enough money so why can't they pay their rent late? And others saying because I own a business I get all sorts of breaks, etc. Well, get off your lazy butt, start a business and buy your own house then! Same thing, just on a different scale. Capitalism, it's a wonderful thing.

 

[BigNate]

absolutely.... look at Musk, 15 years from now when StarLink is fully operational and everyone on the planet has access to electronic communications and see how we value his contributions (maybe much sooner). I am not going to say for sure, but I hope I can live long enough to see for sure (heck, I can remember coding with punch cards and then there were these 3 guys, one who looked like a sheister geek who finagled a crazy deal to buy and sell an operating system and 2 who were playing with animal cracker boxes in their parents' garage to do the physical layout of the original Apple II.... these 3 people along with many in the background changed the world at least as much as the railroad barons did.)

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

My new chevy subruban automatically shuts off the engine at a stop light to save gas, it's annoying...but I'd like to know how much emissions and fossil fuels were wasted on this 10 minute erection?

 

[BigNate]

Texas_Signmaker.... less than what is emitted on I-80 in an average 5 minutes... (possibly MUCH less, like seconds, simple math, but I used some huge WAGs, but very confident the spaceflight was a blip as far as planetary emissions go.)

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Texas_Signmaker.... less than what is emitted on I-80 in an average 5 minutes... (possibly MUCH less, like seconds, simple math, but I used some huge WAGs, but very confident the spaceflight was a blip as far as planetary emissions go.)

I'm not buying that

 

[SignosaurusRex]

"The New Shepard booster rocket burned a mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Its exhaust was a trail of water vapor with no carbon emissions"

 

[De.signs Nanaimo]

Mr. Bezos has donated 200 million to combat climate change, he had spent 5.5 billion on going into space. He has plans to use space tourism (100 million in sales so far, not counting the 28 million for the 18 year old) to fund space mining, with possible profits in the 100's of trillions. That 200 million for climate change shows exactly how much he cares about this planet. That and check how much tax he has paid for the last few years.

 

[Proofread People]

Uber rich used to give back to society, the arts, libraries, medical research etc. Now this vain crap competing with his equally despicable wealthy oligarchs.

I think rich people aren't generous people by nature, that's how they get and stay rich. But it's still something to make something out of nothing, idk

 

[BigNate]

Texas_Signmaker ... The fuel is hydrogen, NOT fossil fuel.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Well, if the exhaust is water then that is good. How did they get the hydrogen and was that process clean?

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Texas_Signmaker ... The fuel is hydrogen, NOT fossil fuel.

I was under the assumption that hydrogen is very energy intensive to produce? Sort of like charging your tesla from power generated by burning coal.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Well, if the exhaust is water then that is good. How did they get the hydrogen and was that process clean?

Electrolysis and no.

 

[BigNate]

While I agree that the energy to produce the hydrogen may not have been clean, but I challenge that we do not fully know... was the electricity from nuclear, coal, wind, solar ??? or did they reform the hydrogen from something else? (much more common than electrolysis) how far back do we go? there was basically zero fossil fuel burned by the rocket during the flight.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I saw this, it was literally a di*k measuring contest amongst people with far too much money at their disposal. If you can afford to build your own rocket and fly into space, you shouldn't be able to loophole your way out of paying your personal and corporate income taxes.