Thoughts on taking it seriously.
This would have a huge impact on policy.
Category Archives: Economics
The Artemis Accords
I haven’t talked much about this, but Bob Zimmerman has thoughts.
I’ve been working on this behind the scenes for a couple years, in both DC and London, and some of the ideas in the accords may be based on my IAC paper from last fall, but these are much more limited than my proposals there. They don’t really “supercede” the OST; the administration’s position is that they are not in violation of it, and that it is “permissive” in that regard.
The Social-Distancing Experiment
…has failed.
This reminds me of the old Soviet joke about the kid in a classroom, asking if Marx was the greatest scientist in history. After being assured by the teacher that that was the case, he asked “Well, why didn’t he try this crap on rats first?”
[Update a while later]
Policy and punditry must adapt to new data.
The Lunar Lander Awards
Eric Berger has the story:
NASA is taking a two-pronged approach toward the Artemis program. The agency has a clear mandate from the White House to land humans on the Moon by 2024. This has been criticized by some as a “political” date, but supporters of the fast timeline say it has injected needed urgency into the program. At the same time, NASA also wants to avoid the pitfalls of the Apollo Program—which flew six missions to the Moon and then ended due to high costs—by designing Artemis to be sustainable for the long term.
Unfortunately, as long as NASA is forced to continue to use SLS, that’s an impossible goal. Speaking of which, they just awarded a contract to AJR for $100M/engine.
Plus, Eric has a story on the uncertainty of launch architectures.
[Monday-morning update]
OK, so it’s not a hundred million per engine. It’s $146M.
[Bumped]
Overmothered Men
America is awash in them. Not just “overmothered” but, more importantly, underfathered. This is also a key part of the sociocultural dysfunction in the black community, because welfare policies encouraged so many black women to marry the government instead of the fathers of their children.
May Day
…should be renamed “Victims of Communism Day.” Ten relevant films.
Half-Whitmer
Five local businesses have filed suit against her. Good for them.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Are Michigan Republicans growing less supine? One can only hope.
[Update a while later]
Armed protesters flood Lansing as Whitmer attempts to override the legislature.
[Saturday-morning update]
Last link is fixed, sorry.
De Blasio
The blood on his hands. It’s stiff competition, but he’s probably the worst mayor in America, running its largest city. But then Garcetti is no prize, either.
[Afternoon update]
He threatens to round up Jews who don’t obey his orders.
[Thursday-morning update]
[Bumped]
A Police State
Yes, this is a dress rehearsal for it.
Related thoughts from Bob Zimmerman.
Justin Amash
He’s running for president. What does it mean for Trump?
Matt Welch interviewed him. I might vote for him, given that where I vote, my vote for president doesn’t matter.