dietz@SLB-DOLL.CSNET (Paul Dietz) (02/24/86)
> Note that the 2 billion dollars is not being shot into space. The >money is staying right here on Earth, where it is benefiting hundreds >of thousands of people directly. It is of course benefiting all >mankind in the long run, unlike two months of feeding Ethiopia. Not to criticize money spent developing useful products, but money itself is merely a placeholder for wealth. Real wealth is in the physical products, services and knowledge produced by an activity. Note that while NASA employees (and subcontractors) do spend the 2 billion dollars generating jobs locally, the taxpayers from whom the money was obtained can no longer spend it, leading to a compensating loss of jobs elsewhere. What's being consumed by NASA is the skill of its employees and the skills of the employees of its contractors (plus some raw materials); the employees would otherwise be involved in (say) designing consumer electronics. (Whether VCR's are more valuable than space stations is a matter of taste.)