Private Industry in Space: Good or Bad?

It's pretty obvious to see that every government that ever existed either gains more power or doesn't bother with gaining more power. I've yet to see a government give up power when it wasn't to their advantage to do so.

Ignoring the grammar of your second sentence, I don't see how technology gives the state more power over private businesses.

Regardless, this isn't a matter of power.

It doesn't give the state any more power over businesses, that isn't the point here at all. It simply changes the nature of necessary regulation. Which in this case is pushing responsibly for the core foundations of industries, there most basic functionality, into the hands of government.

I will tomorrow dig up, if I have to dig up, the articles explaining the drop of space flight and all of that stuff.

2. Minimal financial profit? Do you have any idea how much money you get from a single asteroid, (I am talking about asteroids beyond earth orbit) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ion--years-financial-output-entire-WORLD.html

Fair enough

What's the point of this? What is the benefit of the government taking away this responsibility?[/quote]

They aren't taking away anything, the responsibility is just falling on them. That's how its always been with necessary regulation.

And? You think space travel is inexpensive, what about the cost of dealing with regulation from the international community? We sure as hell aren't gonna let large quantities of potently harmful materials touch Earth's surface without thoroughly inspecting them first, and the local government that controls the land where these materials are unloaded sure as hell isn't going to not tax the shit out of them. You think they'll be reaping maximum yield form their operation and always working at top productivity, just mine the whole damn asteroid out in one go? What will their investors say when large shipments don't make it back for processing due to catastrophic failures? Or when expensive equipment dosen't even make it to the work site?

Maybe I'm confused as to what responsibilities you're talking about. The way you make it seem it's as if the government is taking control of a companies industry or service. Also, it is taking away something if a business is able to do something, and then the government no longer lets them do it.

Didn't the UN make it illegal for any country to own any kind of space land? Maybe it was just the moon.

Its all about the macro economic scheme essentially.

I didn't say anything about countries owning territory in space.

So basically you're just talking about government regulation that is comparable to what they government already does to Terranbound businesses?

Misread your post it seems. You said they would tax the minerals on the land it was unloaded from. I must have read it as where it was mined from.

Sorta, think further down the line. What constitutes necessary regulation today isn't exactly the same as what constitutes necessary regulation tomorrow. That's that whole "effect of technology" thing I was talking about earlier at work.

You mean how the invention of cars lead to regulation of how fast they can go, having to wear seatbelts, etc.?

Getting closer. Now think bigger and, in some cases, more complex. (And I thought my sever sleep deprivation would effect my ability to articulate ideas.)

Ok, I think I get where you're coming from now. I don't agree with it, but at least now I understand what you're saying.

Investors take risks you see, luckily right now they are millionaires etc so they can take a few. Every new business sector is a risk, airplanes for one was a risky business at first. Also I think the company's will get better and better at their job as more times goes by. That's why they start near earth.
Also if you trying to say governments will tax them do death they wont, if it will make company's unprofitable thus making them unable to keep and create jobs.

Not just your average risks where you could always just fall back on the rewards of past success and recover, risks that can literary destroy some of the most power men in business. Risks that dwarf every other risk in the history of risks combined and then multiplied by a factor of 1000x.
We aren't talking about about airplanes or fast food restaurant chains here. We're talking about a merciless vacuum of radioactive death.

You honestly believe the local governments involved are just going to let them fly in loads of potentially deadly material in potentially explosive aircraft over population centers, without collecting the appropriate tax as an insurance fee for the local population at risk? Do we live on the same planet?

I will answer the rest later, but this I will say. Of course government will tax them ,but they wont tax them to death ("death" meaning, it can't make profit)

Any sane government would tax the shit out of them and then some.

Any sane government wouldn't. Or are you saying government is OK with people losing jobs because of them. Also if the company gets $95.8 trillion dollars (nearly the same as the annual GDP of the entire WORLD.) I think it wouldn't hurt if the government would tax even 30-40% from that. Considering NASA budget is 17,711 million dollars, think how much you can achieve with 100 times that.

I'm saying any government that wouldn't rake in a sizable fee from the risk of putting entire population centers and commercial/industrial districts at the mercy of a single fuck up is insane.

There is no such thing as 100% yield efficiency and mining out an asteroid in one go would require a massively impractical amount of equipment. There is also the chance that the material mined could be far too contaminated form space travel to be used in any practical manor. In short, you aren't even considering the countless variables here.

A plane crashing can destroy population centers as well.

Airplanes aren't typically loaded down with space rocks, which are typically coated with, or are themselves, poisonous contaminates. And that's under ideal conditions.