Jeff Bezos Launch

[ttmott]

I have zero admiration for Jeff. I don’t like his company and how it destroys competition from small businesses. And I sure as hell don’t like how his company benefited (payoff) from COVID. The gubberment mandated shut downs and small businesses collapsed but Bezos still crammed workers into windowless warehouses.

"his company".... Blue Origin? Amazon? He is a capitalist and has made the most of being one even though his politics don't align with a capitalist. But we are all different. Are you now saying we should limit capitalism? More federal regulations on capitalism? You do know Amazon is a publicly owned and traded company right? That Stock stuff.... So Blue Origin which is his space business is completely funded out of his pocket and solely owned by him; that diabolical money he swindled from everyone at the Amazon slave camp.... Blue Origin if you didn't know has nothing to do with Amazon. You may not know this either but Blue Origin employs directly and indirectly tens of thousands of Americans in aerospace, construction, food, retail, automotive, electronics, etc, etc. Even my little company does a lot of work in our area for Blue Origin. He is moving the marker in the right direction. My advise is you may want to get some actual facts away from the mainstream media and recalibrate.... The "windowless warehouse" here in the Space Coast.

 

[jmauld]

Amazon is also much bigger than the retail outlet. They also work in electronics, cloud services, robotics, etc. Amazon Retail is the evil that funds all of that other work.

 

[highslice]

Elizabeth Warren complained that "Bezos can afford to launch himself into space while half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck". I am not sure what moral equivalency she is trying to establish but...Bezos took a risk, started a company and is now profiting from that risk. Anyone can do that (at least for now) in America. So if you don't want to live paycheck to paycheck, take a risk, better yourself or don't bitch (really only Liz is bitching, so that one isn't really fair, admittedly). Plus, who is more responsible for the discrepancy, the guy who took the risk or the career politician who appropriated the native American culture to benefit herself, has become a multi-millionaire off of a $175,000/year salary (bribes and insider trading are amazing money accumulators) has backed socialist policies her whole career and has not created a job in her life? Bezos treats his employees like shit, for sure. But he has employees for a company he made from thin air and pays them from the revenue that company generates. The only thing Warren has generated are bad ideas.

 

[jmauld]

There are a lot more people than just her that make the argument that bezos shouldn’t be able to use his money as he sees fit. Some of these same people also argue that we shouldn’t spend any money on space. Completely overlooking the wealth of knowledge that we gain from it.

 

[boatman37]

Bezos did what the majority of people are too afraid to do and I'm sure his first few years were a struggle. He earned it so should be able to spend it any way he wants. If the paycheck to paycheck folks have an issue with it then do something to not be a paycheck to paycheck person

 

[highslice]

There are a lot more people than just her that make the argument that bezos shouldn’t be able to use his money as he sees fit. Some of these same people also argue that we shouldn’t spend any money on space. Completely overlooking the wealth of knowledge that we gain from it.

"We" aren't really spending money on space. Private individuals are spending money on space. The Libtards can go f themselves. I'm tired of the fucker$ that make no contribution to society other than their dumb fu&k opinions. They are leaches who only take and never contribute. Take your pick: Don Lemon, Liz Warren, Joe Biden, Barak Hussein Obama aka the Nigerian Nightmare, Crying Chuck Schumer, Nancy f'ing Pelosi, any dumbocrat prosecutor, and on and on.

Or I just may be in a bad mood because our dumbass county executive and his stupid counterpart in the city have started a new mask mandate including, or in their words "especially" for vaccinated individuals. Apparently they, with no science on their side, have decided that vaccinated individuals are responsible for the spread of COVID in St. Louis. The county executive is an anesthesiologist, so he knows everything.

 

[highslice]

Bezos did what the majority of people are too afraid to do and I'm sure his first few years were a struggle. He earned it so should be able to spend it any way he wants. If the paycheck to paycheck folks have an issue with it then do something to not be a paycheck to paycheck person

You mean like run for Congress and suckle on the teat of America?

 

[jmauld]

“We” do spend a decent amount on space. NASA gets something like 18B a year and now we have the space force.

I wish we would spend more.

 

[Golfman25]

Elizabeth Warren complained that "Bezos can afford to launch himself into space while half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck". I am not sure what moral equivalency she is trying to establish but...Bezos took a risk, started a company and is now profiting from that risk. Anyone can do that (at least for now) in America. So if you don't want to live paycheck to paycheck, take a risk, better yourself or don't bitch (really only Liz is bitching, so that one isn't really fair, admittedly). Plus, who is more responsible for the discrepancy, the guy who took the risk or the career politician who appropriated the native American culture to benefit herself, has become a multi-millionaire off of a $175,000/year salary (bribes and insider trading are amazing money accumulators) has backed socialist policies her whole career and has not created a job in her life? Bezos treats his employees like shit, for sure. But he has employees for a company he made from thin air and pays them from the revenue that company generates. The only thing Warren has generated are bad ideas.

While I am not going to defend Pocahontas or any of her Comrades, be sure to follow the money. The US Gov. is privatizing space and I'll just bet spending a lot of money on Bezo's and others endeavors. In other words, he has a customer who prints his own money and has morons running it.

 

[highslice]

“We” do spend a decent amount on space. NASA gets something like 18B a year and now we have the space force.

I wish we would spend more.

In the grand scheme, $18B is just a small drop in the bucket. But I agree with you, I wish we as a country were spending much more on space. If we did, we would be much closer to a manned mission to Mars. We would probably have some better tech than Tang and velcro by now....

 

[Gofirstclass]

Highslice, I respect your position but I'm of the opposite position from yours. So we establish a manned mission to Mars. So what? What good does spending billions on a manned mission to mars do to better the good ol' USA? So we learn more about the sand on Mars. So what? How does that help get our roads and bridges repaired or replace?

I'm sorry, but those billions could better be used on our soil to improve the way of life that we enjoy. Better roads to drive on. Better infrastructure to expand housing that's affordable for most. And the jobs those improvements would create.

I think all of that would do a helluva lot more to improve things for those of us here on earth than people cloistered in a hut on Mars.

 

[jmauld]

I'm sorry, but those billions could better be used on our soil to improve the way of life that we enjoy. Better roads to drive on. Better infrastructure to expand housing that's affordable for most. And the jobs those improvements would create.

Do you use GPS on your boat? What about weather apps? EPIRB or PLB?

Also, keep in mind. Those billions don't get "shot" into space. The money stays here. It creates jobs for people, who pay others for services, who then pay taxes, which is used to create/improve infrastructure. Investing in space is investing in all those things you just mentioned. And, it's all invested here. Very little of that money leaves the country.

 

[highslice]

Highslice, I respect your position but I'm of the opposite position from yours. So we establish a manned mission to Mars. So what? What good does spending billions on a manned mission to mars do to better the good ol' USA? So we learn more about the sand on Mars. So what? How does that help get our roads and bridges repaired or replace?

I'm sorry, but those billions could better be used on our soil to improve the way of life that we enjoy. Better roads to drive on. Better infrastructure to expand housing that's affordable for most. And the jobs those improvements would create.

I think all of that would do a helluva lot more to improve things for those of us here on earth than people cloistered in a hut on Mars.

Mike,
We agree on a lot of things. I know we need infrastructure investment (NO NOT HUMAN INFRASTRUCTURE), but how we pay for it is something else. And as Jmauld said above, investment in space exploration can actually be a money multiplier and give us cool new tech. As for the guberment building "affordable housing", that has been tried before with disastrous outcomes. Let the market work and there will be housing for everyone that is willing to work for it.

 

[jmauld]

I see this “affordable housing” come up a lot.
Don’t we already have affordable housing programs?

 

[boatman37]

I see this “affordable housing” come up a lot.
Don’t we already have affordable housing programs?

yeah. the projects. so they can pay $5 a month rent and drive brand new cars and get a new iphone and new $200 shoes every few weeks

 

[ttmott]

Highslice, I respect your position but I'm of the opposite position from yours. So we establish a manned mission to Mars. So what? What good does spending billions on a manned mission to mars do to better the good ol' USA? So we learn more about the sand on Mars. So what? How does that help get our roads and bridges repaired or replace?

I'm sorry, but those billions could better be used on our soil to improve the way of life that we enjoy. Better roads to drive on. Better infrastructure to expand housing that's affordable for most. And the jobs those improvements would create.

I think all of that would do a helluva lot more to improve things for those of us here on earth than people cloistered in a hut on Mars.

It's not necessarily the destination but rather the journey. Rest assured the money isn't going to be spent on Mars but rather right here in the US employing US people making US technology that will benefit for generations. Look at the technological leap this nation made when JFK started the moon missions. Just about everything we touch every day is a spin-off from those types of programs. You say "spend"... That money is invested here in the US on US developed technology and reaps 100X in follow-on benefits in the US private sector. Pick a subject - medicine, medical technology, the internet, cell phones, the digital time on your nightstand, LED lighting, microwave ovens, modern fuel injection control, lithium batteries, solar cells; the list is endless and all from government investment on technology development. Not so many years ago we lost an important space launch mission that I worked on, the booster failed right off the pad. The spacecraft that the booster was lifting cost the taxpayer over a billion dollars to build and get ready for launch. Someone said to me "what a waste of money"; I was perplexed and astounded at the ignorance. They actually didn't realize that every dime went into the US economy employing people right here in the US; from the raw material miner, to the smelters, to the scientists, to the circle K worker - everyone benefits in a positive way. The only thing we lost was the end purpose of the spacecraft.

 

[OllieC]

William Shatner boldly went, in a giant dildo, where no 90 year old has gone before!

 

[JNorgren]

You are right on ttmott and we also had a lot of fun. Most people only see the costs not the long term benefits.