The best way to stimulate the economy is to pour money into education, NASA/Space Exploration and research & development.
Our government has been mismanaged for a very long time. Instead of supporting policy that would expand our economy, and our civilization, we have poured money into oil subsidies, greedy Wall Street crooks and war.
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| Westward Expansion |
Every since time immemorial, human economy has been based on expansion. Humanity has expanded out over all corners of the Earth. There is no where else to colonize for the masses. That leaves us competing for finite resources.
Skilled factory jobs have been outsourced to lands where the cost of labor is less. All the while, our society has told the young that they must get a college degree to make a good wage. In the process of obtaining that degree, they are gouged to the limit for things like books and tuition. They go into massive debt only to find upon graduation that the promised jobs do not exist.
All this has caused spending on social programs, and crime caused by desperation and poverty to increase at an unsustainable rate.
So how would pouring money into education, NASA/Space Exploration and research & development solve our problems, you may ask?
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| F-14A Flies Over Burning Oil Wells in Kuwait |
We had a chance to avoid all this back in the early days of the 1970's, in the Apollo era. That is the time our nation dropped the ball, and greed took control. If our society had continued funding NASA and education at the same rate, and accounting for inflation, we would not have the problems we do today. Humanity would have had colonies on Mars, and the Moon by now. Along with that we would have skilled people to do the work necessary for such expansion. The jobs would be there for them who wish to seek advanced education, and for them who wish to do skilled craftsman type work. The crime rate would be lower because there wouldn't be so many poor, desperate and disillusioned people. Social spending would be far less than it is today as a percentage of our overall budget. We, as a species could support many more billions of people because we would no longer be confined to only one celestial body for a place to live. War would not be so frequent because humans would not be competing so desperately for finite resources. Humanity could of had, should of had a Golden Era, but we were robbed of it.
It is not to late to turn things around. All we have to do is vote out all the primitive thinkers, and start a massive global effort to do now what we should of been doing during the last 40 years. We, as a nation, and as the most powerful economic and industrial force on our planet should take the lead. We can, by our example, cause other nations to join our efforts.
Don't get me wrong, please. I am not going to say it will be easy because it won't. It took the will of an entire globe of freedom loving people to defeat despotism during WWII. It took sacrifice and dedication, long hours and blood to solve that horrible problem, but we did it. We did it because we had to do it or be slaves.
The efforts we need to build a new society, who's industry is based on the unlimited possibilities of expansion into the cosmos, can still be had. We can avoid the further economic enslavement of humanity by greedy, self serving people if we take action. The longer we wait, the harder it will be to set things right, and the more unnecessary suffering innocent people will be subjected to.
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| Apollo 11 Takes Flight |
So how do we do it? When I was growing up in Florida, I remember seeing rockets flying overhead. First on their way into orbit carrying the Gemini capsule, then on to the Moon with Apollo. I'm to young to remember the Mercury missions in live thought. I do have vivid memories of the Saturn V flying across the Florida sky in all its glory. It was awesome in the extreme!
We delighted ourselves watching Star Trek, with our old friends Captain Kirk, and Mr. Spock on the television, and dreamed of a day when our civilization would do as they in real life. We thought we were on that path, and embraced science and technology wholeheartedly. Our generation was convinced that we were on a continuing path towards the stars. That was then, and the cold war ended. Along with it ended our nations dedication to that cause.
What we thought was a dedication to science and exploration turned out to be a contest of one-upmanship between the United States and the Soviet Union. As soon as we convinced ourselves we had won that contest by placing humans on our moon, and safely bringing them home, our focus turned from exploration to low Earth orbit, and the placing of communication & GPS satellites around our planet. This was the building of part of the modern electronic infrastructure we enjoy today. We could of had much more.
In 1970 our nation spent 1.92% of the Federal budget, or $18,768,000,000 on the space program, in 2007 dollars. In 2012 our nation spent 0.48% of the Federal budget, or $16,014,000,000 in 2007 dollars. During the 42 years between the dollar amount, in 2007 dollars, has varied little, and the percentage of the federal budget has kept shrinking. By my estimation, if our space program had the same funding, as a percent of the federal budget that was had in 1970, our nation would be spending $64,158,653,846 in 2007 dollars.
All figures in the preceding paragraph are from this wiki; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA#Annual_budget.2C_1958-2015
Feel free to check my math.
((100/.48)*$16,014,000,000)*(100/1.92)=$64,158,653,846
During that same 40+ years education spending hasn't fared much better, and welfare spending has increased almost 4 fold. Check the chart below. It is in 2009 dollars, but I think that is close enough for this purpose.
I hope by now you suspect what I'm getting too. I am saying our nation dropped the ball when we ended the Apollo program. I believe that if our society had kept spending on NASA and/or space technology and development, and education at proper levels, keeping up with inflation we wouldn't have such massive welfare spending now. I believe we would of avoided the recessions we have endured, along with the suffering the accompanying high unemployment levels caused. Furthermore, our nation would have avoided the massive federal debt we find ourselves saddled with.
The reason I believe all that is because if we had of kept up the forward momentum we had then, our nation would have these following things;
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| Skilled Person Assembling Lunar Module |
1. A highly educated, and skilled workforce.
2. Industry in orbit, on the Moon and on Mars.
3. The harvesting of asteroids for metals, and other elements.
4. Greater wealth for all due to items 1, 2 and 3 in this list, giving us less welfare spending.
5. 40+ years of developed civilization on the Moon, and Mars.
6. A more stable, and sustainable industrial base.
7. A higher level of technology than we have at this point in time.
8. Less degradation of our ecosystem.
9. Less global conflict.
10. An open ended cause that everyone could feel like they were contributing to, and claim ownership of.
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| Lunar Module Blueprint |
I'm not saying our leadership failed us on purpose. They probably didn't know any better. I know Richard Nixon didn't know any better. He was a corrupt, short sighted man, who was focused on the perceived problems of his times. He was lacking in enlightenment, and showed it in his attitude with race, government, and authority.
All that Nixon stuff is food for a whole other article. I mentioned it just to show the type of thinkers who brought us to this. Still, you should get the over all picture of what I'm going on about by now. We could of been much better off. It's almost like we've been going through a modern day Dark Ages. It is like real human advancement was put on hold in favor of other things we thought were more important, but really were not. Our society was to primitive to know any better. Now we do know better.
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| United States Flag on the Moon |
I've mentioned in the past of how the bank bail-outs, and such was enough to fund several Apollo size projects in other articles, but it is worth mentioning again here. I'm mentioning it because corruption is a part of the problem. Misguided federal policy weighs heavily into it. Infighting between the political parties, and no real direction for our society too! The issues that has caused us to go down the failed path we have chosen are many and complex, but there is hope. It is not to late! Not yet anyway.
There is a time in a civilizations advancement when if they do not choose the right path, they could be stuck in the quagmire of stagnation forever. When the infrastructure of civilization becomes to anemic, and fragmented to take on such high goals, that civilization could very well be in danger of it's progress being brought to a halt. An advanced civilization can fail due to global war. Our civilization can be brought to its knees due to short sighted goals, greed and corruption. When I look at the news, I get a feeling our world is going down that dead end path.
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Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station
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I think if we turn it around now, we have a chance to avoid all that failure. It is going to take a lot of work to repair the damage. It is going to take all of us working together, and steadfastly to achieve that goal. What a goal too! We can grab that brass ring, and reap the rewards! All of us can. We don't have to march down that road to oblivion our misguided leaders have started us on.
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| Human Footprint on the Moon |
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was 7 years ago already. Could you imagine what things would be like if our nation had of put all that $1.1 trillion into 7 Apollo size programs, with the training, and people employed, etc. etc.? President John F. Kennedy's speech was May 25, 1961. By Oct. 11, 1968 Apollo 7 was ready with the First manned Earth orbital demonstration.
At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 Americans and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/Apollo.html
Lets do that times 7.
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| Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS) |
I get 2,800,000 jobs requiring the support of 140,000 industrial firms and universities. I know it wouldn't be directly like that, but I also know it would be a major boon too!
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| Moon Mining Colony Provides Jobs & Hope for the Future |
Note 5-27-2015: (This is new data I have been made aware of.) During the banking crisis the treasury made $16 trillion in low interest loans to the very banks that caused the problem in the first place. It cost our nation $176 billion (2009 dollars) for the cost of Apollo and other space related things in the time frame of 1962 to 1972. $16 trillion could of supported 91 times the NASA effort had back during the 1962-1972 space effort.
At its peak, the Apollo program employed 400,000 Americans and required the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities. 400,000 X 91 = 36,400,000 jobs
12 million persons were unemployed in 2009 at the peak of the recession. I hope you see where I'm going with this. We were taken to the cleaners big time. Our nation spent all that money, fiat money, and have precious little to show for it. Well, maybe the top mega-rich have something to show for it, but not the little guy.
