As a resident of that “poor” state, I think this is money well spent. NM is actually fairly flush with money due to a windfall of income from oil and gas sales.

I hardly think that this is putting all ones eggs in one basket. NM is a logical location for a spaceport, given the open skies and existing range (WSMR) space to the east of the proposed site.

Yes, there are plenty of other things that the money could be spent on; each area of discrentionary funding has it’s own proponents and detractors.

This is an investment in the future. If New Mexico doesn’t fork up the money, other states will. The Florida government was criticized for not doing enough to attract the business to their state. They see this as jobs for New Mexico.

I’ve often heard the arguement that this is tax money for to send rich people into space. Far from it. Scaled Composites (Space Ship One) and other companies are not building these space ships for joy rides for rich tourists, they are building them to give us cheap access to space, to get us off the Earth, access the resources of close asteroids, and push the advance of the human race across the solar system. Having rich people pay some money along the way helps with this development. They’d be foolish to turn down the money.

It’s time we gave the world a reason to hope again. We can’t keep thinking about only our own generation. We need to think about future generations. They will thank us for this investment in their future.

Why can’t NM spend money on welfare instead?