Geomon, I would completely ignore the above "Anonymous Coward". He obviously is an idiot.
I agree with you that the costs will be lowered. Additionally, we will not need to risk human lives as well.
I hope universities will get a part of that action as well. I know many universities do research for NASA; my university does. The MARS rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, were designed with collaboration with CMU and other universities.
I believe partnerships with private companies and universities will save a great deal of money and time. NASA has always subcontracted a lot of services to the private sector.
The Bush Administration is not helping much. They recommended to Congress a budget cut for NASA. I believe that the Voyagers may no longer get funding soon; this is an vehement protest from the international community of scientists. This is a cruicial issue since the Voyagers are headed for interstellar space. (I am not sure of how the budget cut proposal were handled by Congress. Does anybody know?)
So what if MS, Cisco, and other companies do not pay taxes DIRECTLY? They generate an enormous amount of business, which fuels the economy.
The difference between the strike price and the market price becomes taxable income for the employee. So the deducations, which allow the said companies to not pay taxes, are actually taxed.
Then if the employees spend money in order to deduct from their taxes, the economy grows. Consider the ripple effect - trickle down economics. Why do you think the US gov't, and other gov't's, allow companies and people to deduct from their taxes?
In brief, you are exactly correct that MS and the likes do not pay much taxes. But this does not necessarily create an adverse effect in our economy. Yes the government receives less money from MS and other companies, but the economy flourishes; in the subsequent fiscal years, the government actually receives more net tax money.
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Geomon, I would completely ignore the above "Anonymous Coward". He obviously is an idiot.
I agree with you that the costs will be lowered. Additionally, we will not need to risk human lives as well.
I hope universities will get a part of that action as well. I know many universities do research for NASA; my university does. The MARS rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, were designed with collaboration with CMU and other universities.
I believe partnerships with private companies and universities will save a great deal of money and time. NASA has always subcontracted a lot of services to the private sector.
The Bush Administration is not helping much. They recommended to Congress a budget cut for NASA. I believe that the Voyagers may no longer get funding soon; this is an vehement protest from the international community of scientists. This is a cruicial issue since the Voyagers are headed for interstellar space. (I am not sure of how the budget cut proposal were handled by Congress. Does anybody know?)
So what if MS, Cisco, and other companies do not pay taxes DIRECTLY? They generate an enormous amount of business, which fuels the economy.
The difference between the strike price and the market price becomes taxable income for the employee. So the deducations, which allow the said companies to not pay taxes, are actually taxed.
Then if the employees spend money in order to deduct from their taxes, the economy grows. Consider the ripple effect - trickle down economics. Why do you think the US gov't, and other gov't's, allow companies and people to deduct from their taxes?
In brief, you are exactly correct that MS and the likes do not pay much taxes. But this does not necessarily create an adverse effect in our economy. Yes the government receives less money from MS and other companies, but the economy flourishes; in the subsequent fiscal years, the government actually receives more net tax money.