Comments on: Arizona and Colorado legislatures consider space industry legislation

By: Neil Shipley

Neil Shipley — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 07:22:31 +0000

Is bribery really at that level in the U.S.? Six figures a week? God no wonder you have political stalemate at every turn as well as simple porkfests for vested interests.

By: Malmesbury

Malmesbury — Sun, 09 Mar 2014 12:58:30 +0000

No – there will be a spaceport and the idea (at least to the politicians) is that the citizenry will get their share. A small share of the proceeds….

The problem is that the need to fund raise is a constant hunger. A congressman needs to raise 6 figures a week every single week they are in office to get re-elected. Not much better at state level.

This is why they like the deals, single sourced contracts etc. If they know exactly where the money is going, they know exactly who should be grateful for the money….

This is the reason that commercial space & SAAs are *hated* by on the Hill. Instead of the congress criters voting for who *exactly* gets the money, some ^&^*ers in the Executive Branch (NASA) get to decide who they go with based on some nonsense about the best bid. The criters can only vote to approve or cancel the program. No way to make sure a contract goes to those nice people in Florida who’s lobbyist took you out for that very nice lunch.

By: James

James — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 23:37:51 +0000

Yes, i figured the rationale for this has nothing to do with actually becoming a spaceport, but addressing local politicians agendas – which has nothing to do with contributing to the citizenry

By: Malmesbury

Malmesbury — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 18:29:24 +0000

The current system of government in the US imposes high taxes and regulation on those that don’t buy favors from politicians local and federal.

The polite version of this is politicians offering exemptions for “industries of the moment”. They will expect a… return on their political investment

By: James

James — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 18:03:06 +0000

This reminds me of the gold rush mentality. Everyone wanted in on it.
Except in this case, there isn’t gold…at least not in every state, and surely not in ho hum land locked states.

Sheesh.

By: amightywind

amightywind — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 19:24:18 +0000

Why states think that commercial space ports are financially I’ll never know. I suppose they think of it like green energy, and they can chisel money off of the federal subsidies.