Category Archives: Business

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

Desperation

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The administration is asking the judge who declared the health-care law unconstitutional to order it to be implemented.

I’d say good luck with that, but I’d be lying.

[Update a while later]

It’s not just the mandate. Just in case the bill survives the Supreme Court, the waivers are unconstitutional as well. These would seem to be a slam dunk from an equal protection standpoint. It’s government by fiat, and rule of men rather than law. Which is the only kind that works for the White House, because the people sure don’t want it.

Business, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

NASA Budget Issues

19 Comments

Andy Pasztor (I know, I know) has a piece in today’s Journal about the NASA budget proposal that was released a few minutes ago. As Jeff Foust notes, when he writes:

Commercial-space projects are years behind schedule, and critics still worry about placing undue reliance on them.

…compared to what? At least they weren’t slopping more than a year per year, as Constellation was, and they were spending orders of magnitude less money. Jeff also says:

…the article doesn’t say what that cutback in commercial crew funding is in respect to. If it’s compared to the 2012 projection in the administration’s FY11 budget request, which called for $1.4 billion, that is almost certainly correct, especially since the NASA authorization act passed last year included only $500 million for commercial crew development in 2012. It would be more newsworthy if the administration’s commercial crew request was less than that $500-million figure, especially since the article also indicates that the budget proposal “would be broadly consistent” with the act.

Actually, my reading of it is that it’s a cut from the $500M figure:

The White House last year initially proposed NASA spending of more than $1.2 billion annually on commercial spacecraft. Congress later reduced that figure to less than $500 million a year, and the latest budget envision further trims.

That sounds like a cut from the half billion to me. But then again, it is Andy Pasztor. Anyway, we’ll know today.

[Update a few minutes later]

Clark Lindsey has more thoughts, and there’s a lot of discussion in comments.

[Update a few mintues later]

Jeff Foust has more over at The Space Review today.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

“We Cannot Survive Without You”

25 Comments

I’ve been pointing for a year now that NASA needs private providers a lot more than they need NASA. Jeff Foust has a report from the plenary session of the conference yesterday, in which Charlie Bolden confirmed it. This will, of course, cause exploding of heads in the moronosphere.

[Update a few minutes later]

And as predicted, here is the latest insanity from Mark Whittington:

Charles Bolden was reported to have told Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan that he would provide a bailout for commercial space firms “equal to that given the auto industry” if the private sector faltered in providing space transportation services. Bolden later issued a non denial denial of Cernan’s account.

This raises the question of in what sense is the Obama program “commercial.” Under the Bush era COTS program, the consequences for failure were that a commercial company would be out of the program. Originally a company called Rocket Plane/Kistler was part of COTS. But because RP/Kistler could not meet milestones, it was replaced by another company called Orbital Systems.

But under the Obama plan, the only consequences for failure would be more money pumped into the commercial companies that are developing private space craft. With the demise of Constellation, companies competing for ISS servicing contracts have become too important to fail.

So far this virtual guarantee of money has not had much of an effect on the performance of companies in the commercial space program. Recently, SpaceX successfully orbited, reentered, and landed on the ocean a prototype of its Dragon space craft.

I don’t have time to dissect it right now, so I toss it as chum to the comment sharks. I will note though, that there is no logical connection between the first and second sentences in that last paragraph. Which is not atypical of a Whittington piece.

Business, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

Press Conference Coverage

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Here’s a pretty good story from Clara Moskowitz, based on the actual event, as opposed to just the press release.

I should provide some context for Jeff Foust’s quote of me:

While this group may suppot the administration’s commercial space policies, just don’t expect them to start sporting “Obama 2012″ buttons any time soon. “I just don’t think that the president cares that much one way or the other about commercial space,” Simberg said in response to a question. “But I’m glad for that. I think if he did we’d have worse problems.”

The question this was a response to was one from Keith Cowing. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but a rough but I think accurate paraphrase would be, “You have called the president a liar on your blog. So how can you support his space policy?”

I don’t know if the people on the phones could hear my eyes rolling, but those present will attest that they were, which is why I didn’t bother to actually answer it.

By the way, I think that he does his readers a disservice by so steadfastly refusing to link to anything that I write, anywhere, but as he always tells anyone who complains, it’s his web site.