Saturday, January 17, 2015

Elon Musk's Plan to Build a Space Internet


Musk describes his system as “a giant global Internet service provider” for anyone. But he wants to go even bigger than that: He sees it as the basis for a system that will stretch all the way to Mars, where he plans to set up a colony in the coming decades. “It will be important for Mars to have a global communications network as well,” he says. “I think this needs to be done, and I don’t see anyone else doing it.”

 http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2015-01-17/elon-musk-and-spacex-plan-a-space-internet#p2

Of course OneWeb and its backers think that they have the better idea and that Musk is to late to the show...

This kind of competition is precisely why the US federal government needs to butt out of the telecommunications space. (It needs to butt out of most business ... but that is a different rant) Its monopoly support of Bell telephone stifled innovation for a century.  One would think we would have learned how harmful government monopoly support is for the advancement of technology... but the compulsion to control by some is an overwhelming need...
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4 comments:

  1. rick0427January 17, 2015 at 7:28 PM

    Guess you are all for the government supported monopoly known as the National Football league though aren't you.........

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    1. TheScottJanuary 18, 2015 at 12:49 AM

      Am I?... Seems to me, I was quite clear some time ago about the use of sports stadiums in Detroit to regenerate an area through the use of public funds and as I recall, my disapproval for the money loosing Amtrak that would transport people to it over a new light rail spur.... But as a also recall, you were the one posting the original article in support of it…My lack of support for taxpayer supported business of all sorts is: If it can't stand on its own merits, it ought not be built.

      The use of imminent domain to build the Dallas Cowboys stadium really pissed me off.. I knew people who had lived in that area for a long time and equitable compensation to support a commercial enterprise in the name of 'highest and best use' does not even come close to passing the smell test.... and then higher property taxes for everyone else to fund the stadium... no thanks.

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    2. rick0427January 19, 2015 at 5:15 PM

      So you elude the question. I now know that you don't support progress in Detroit and are pissed about how Jerry Jones built his dream castle. Do you support the NFL monopoly? It is not taxpayer supported but it is a monopoly supported by the laws of our government. It is given the status of a non profit organization, and it is allowed to stand as a monopoly of the sale of professional football.

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    3. TheScottJanuary 21, 2015 at 12:51 AM

      My mistake, I didn’t understand the point of your question. Of course you are trying to tie a sporting league organization with the likes of SpaceX and Tesla but I will stick strictly with the question you asked.

      In a word, No. Firstly lets clarify that there are 29 501(c)(non profit) categories in our monstrosity of a tax code and that the NFL is a 501(c)6, a trade organization and not a 501(c)3, a charity organization. We should also mention that while people want to focus on the NFL, the NHL, PGA, ATP, WTA, are all tax-exempt organizations under the same 501 category. No doubt this focus is because of the 9 billion plus in revenue it takes in but keep in mind that the vast majority of that is taxed to franchises and employees and is not the relatively minor dues paid by the teams to the NFL trade organization that is covered by the 501 exemption. The profits taken in on behalf of the teams, like media revenues, are distributed to the teams as ‘revenue sharing’ by a ‘for profit’ arm of the NFL trade organization. Those profits are taxed. The interesting thing here is that even if the 501 status was eliminated, the NFL would pay not one dime extra in taxes. Because of their pay structure, they, as an organization operate at a loss every year… and you don’t pay taxes on your losses.

      The objection that I have is for the abomination of a tax code that has been cobbled together over the last 100 years to favour friends and penalize foes that distorts kneecaps and harms real enterprise. It should be scraped and the 10’s of thousands of people employed by the IRS should get a pink slip and told to find a real job.

      Now I do not begrudge citizens, groups of citizens and business from scouring the tax codes to find deductions to their best advantage. Perhaps if enough people worked to starve the beast that steals money from the people to fund things that any reasonable person would say is well outside the mandate of the federal government, we could get real government downsizing.

      Now, do you want to take about these 501 (C)3 and 6 organizations?
      Cirlot Defense
      Aerospace Industries Association Of America Inc
      The Aerospace Alliance
      International Black Aerospace Council
      The Delaware AeroSpace Education Foundation
      Or perhaps you would like to talk about the fuzzy lines between Superpacs and 501(C)4’s...

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