Personally I find the fact that we've set up a system where a few rich guys can burn obscene amounts of money in a dick measuring competition while people in their own countries increasingly increasingly lack stable income/house/food pretty abhorrent.
The money isn't disappearing, it's going to people feeding their families and creating research valuable to humanity as a whole.
So, exactly, what the fuck is Bad about this?
There's no argument, no logic, just people seeing "Hm, billionaire, things I can't do, must be bad"
Even in the least charitable readings, this sort of venture is so immeasurably better than the the myriad other ridiculous things billionaires do Just Because They Can.
If most of the money they skim off a business like this would be going back into the economy - if the owner of the company spent the money they accrue, would they still be billionaires?
There's an upper limit on how much you can spend. You can own a dozen private jets, a dozen castles, but you can't be on more than one at any given time. And, by not being on any given one for longer than a couple months every year, you can pretty much avoid paying taxes anywhere.
This is a good soundbyte, but misses that the world overall is getting richer and safer every year. The UK is not getting poorer. The US is not either. There's always going to be someone, somewhere who falls through the cracks. That doesn't mean we need to stop humans from exploring the solar system until everyone, everywhere is covered.
If you really care about solving homelessness and income inequality everywhere, why not take it from the truly "useless" industries like entertainment, cosmetics, toys, or luxury cars? Rather than the one industry trying to build a long-term future for humanity.
The US spends $50B a year on pet food or whatever. Get rid of the pets and take that money if you want. I don't see why you are offended that a couple billion is being spent on something that actually matters.
Sending billionaires into space so they can film Tik-Toks from an in-orbit Tesla roadster and get mining rights to all the precious metals in the solar system while patenting and monopolizing critical space travel tech doesn't advance humanity at all, it sets us back. Government investment in and exploration of space pushes us forward, as do massive taxes on billionaires and redistributing their wealth to the general populace and public works projects.
It's astounding to me that there is any non-billionaire alive that doesn't realize this.
Also this whole focus on the billionaires is misguided. Up until very recently only large nation states could afford to have a space program that is any more ambitious than delivering a satellite to orbit. Now it's eccentric billionaires. Tomorrow it'll be small cap companies. Elon Musk is not getting Mars, don't worry.
The number of food banks and their use is on the rise in the UK. The "Gig economy" takes all the worst bits of the precarious situation people were put in by zero hours contracts and additionally ditches pension benefits, holidays, and maternity/paternity leave. House prices are up ~13% on last year. Countries on aggregate might be getting wealthier, but that wealth is going straight into the pockets of those at the top end of the scale. On the lower end you'll find yourself in a damp filled flat run by a dodgy landlord with people who spent the pandemic working from home telling you to feel grateful.
> If you really care about solving homelessness and income inequality everywhere, why not take it from the truly "useless" industries like entertainment, cosmetics, toys, or luxury cars? Rather than the one industry trying to build a long-term future for humanity.
The benefits of this "space race" are limited to a few billionaires, the sectors you named largely benefit wide swathes of society.
> I don't see why you are offended that a couple billion is being spent on something that actually matters.
I don't think it does matter, at least not in the near/mid future.
I couldn't be more pro-Billionaire Astronauts, but at the same time there is danger in them spending their money and influence on things that may not work.
If they had gone out and bought more cars, yachts, and real estate, that's money that goes into mature industries with efficient supply chains that support the livelihoods of many people.
You can look at a billion dollar yacht and say, "What a waste", but the shipwrights, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and welders who built the yacht, not to mention the crew that steers, maintains, and cleans it probably don't think it was a waste, nor do the people who work in the industries that provide the materials for it.
The same can be said about rockets and spacecrafts. They also need an efficient supply chain that provides all the parts. Even if these billionaires failed, they would have spent the money to feed upstream industries. Furthermore, they are thinking to commercialize such travels in future. More jobs and a bigger market if succeeded.