Sign of the Times

An article recently, on a different subject, mentioned that Obama made cuts to NASA so that private industry could take over the space effort. I checked, and rather big cuts were made during his administration. Spending is always blamed on the president (falsely of course), so Obama’s influence on those cuts is not entirely clear, and the reasons for the cuts are not clear at all, but they were made and private industry did take over.

So, what was the effect of this transition from government to private funding of the “space effort?”

Well, under government spending we sent men to the Moon and built the space station. Under private funding we have built reusable rockets to give billionaires ten-minute rides into space, which they have greatly enjoyed.