Can Manned Spaceflight Save the Economy?

Barry asks: "Driving home last night I was listening to a particularly goofy AM talk station. Just before the syndicated UFO talk show 'Strange Days... Indeed' came on, the discussion turned to the Mars Rovers and George Bush's newfound love of space exploration. The interesting thought was that a large number of American political leaders were about to join Bush in endorsing a new manned space program because it would generate 'millions of jobs'. Given that manufacturing jobs are being shipped offshore, and high tech jobs are following, this almost made sense. A primarily unemployed population could mean big trouble. So I am wondering how many people were employed during the height of NASA's glory days, and what kind of economic impact would we expect if a similar program - a Mars mission for example - were launched today?"

Comments

Re:rediculous

[Molina the Bofh]

The fact is that it'll work It's a good move for Bush. Specially if this mission finds Martians. Specially if these Martians have WMDs. Specially if we declare war against Mars. Specially if we conquer Mars, exploiting its natural resources, therefore boosting Earth's economy, allowing a tax cut.

This way, Lord Bush will still be ruling by 2050.

taxes is what could save the economy

[xutopia]

we all know Dubya is trying to save his ass by giving us huge dreams and all. But if he didn't cut taxes like he did he could use money to make money. Right now all he did was save him and friends some cash.

I don't think this can possibly work.

[FFFish]

Space exploration is not a revenue-generator, and there is little hope for revenue generation in the foreseeable future.

This means it must be entirely bankrolled by the government.

Which, in turn, means it must be entirely bankrolled by the public taxpayer.

Government efficiency being what it is, I hardly imagine my dollar of tax is going to pay a dollar worth of economic improvement. Most of that dollar -- like 99 cents of it -- will go to administration overhead, corporate looting, and general waste.

Which means, basically, that I'll lose a dollar, some rich corporate bastard at McDonnel Douglas will gain 99 cents, and Joe Frontline Worker might make a penny.

Thanks, George, but I'd prefer to give my dollar to Joe directly.

Re:ummm flawed logic?

[kommakazi]

Yeah it really is some of the worst logic...
I've come up with the perfect model/analogy for GWB's encomonic policies (war, space exploration, and marginal tax cuts). It's like eating your own feces and drinking your own urine. If you are really starved and dehydrated, it may benefit you in the short run to keep you alive slightly longer, but in the long run you're going nowhere. Each time it cycles through your body there will be less and less nutritional value to it (if any at all). Think about it - it may be quite disgusting, but it makes perfect sense when compared to Bush's economic strategy, which I find quite disgusting as well. Just replace feces and urine with money and your body with our economy.