Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Sol-1 [Infinite Worlds]

AlexanderHowl · 06-18-2019, 07:49 AM

Why would you not be shipping people into space? The old NASA designs would require a substantial presence in space to assemble and maintain the orbital space array. With every person in space, you need other people to support them, with every person added reducing the average cost of sustaining everyone by a little bit.

In addition, cheaper energy, cheaper materials, and higher quality materials mean more jobs on the Earth, so the space economy adds to the overall economy, it does not replace it. In the stated scenario, the US economy is larger because there are less inefficiencies caused by excessive banking deregulation, excessive health care spending, and regressive tax cuts. In addition, the distribution of wealth is more equal, as the several rounds of tax cuts that favored the wealthy would have not occurred.

For example, without the banking deregulation and tax cuts that favored venture capital, and without the exemption from state sales taxes that favored online retailers since there would have been a different Supreme Court by the time of the relevant decisions, online companies like Amazon would have never grown beyond niche sellers. With more aggressive union support and more aggressive support for unions, as well as a slower development of computers, America would not have allowed companies to outsource jobs to China, India, etc. The American economy in 2020 would resemble more the American economy of 1960, with the vast majority of products bought in America being made in America, and they would be bought from traditional retailers.

Of course, some areas in America would absolutely suck. The coal industry would have collapsed by 2010, and the oil and gas industry would be on their last legs in 2020. States like Alaska and West Virginia would depopulation as there would be nothing for anyone to do, so they would migrate to urban centers. With the larger population experiencing economic equality and greater prosperity though, there would not really be much political support for Basic Income, though there may be more generous social welfare programs for the disabled, elderly, and unfortunate.

06-18-2019, 07:49 AM	#70
AlexanderHowl Join Date: Feb 2016	Re: Sol-1 [Infinite Worlds] Why would you not be shipping people into space? The old NASA designs would require a substantial presence in space to assemble and maintain the orbital space array. With every person in space, you need other people to support them, with every person added reducing the average cost of sustaining everyone by a little bit. In addition, cheaper energy, cheaper materials, and higher quality materials mean more jobs on the Earth, so the space economy adds to the overall economy, it does not replace it. In the stated scenario, the US economy is larger because there are less inefficiencies caused by excessive banking deregulation, excessive health care spending, and regressive tax cuts. In addition, the distribution of wealth is more equal, as the several rounds of tax cuts that favored the wealthy would have not occurred. For example, without the banking deregulation and tax cuts that favored venture capital, and without the exemption from state sales taxes that favored online retailers since there would have been a different Supreme Court by the time of the relevant decisions, online companies like Amazon would have never grown beyond niche sellers. With more aggressive union support and more aggressive support for unions, as well as a slower development of computers, America would not have allowed companies to outsource jobs to China, India, etc. The American economy in 2020 would resemble more the American economy of 1960, with the vast majority of products bought in America being made in America, and they would be bought from traditional retailers. Of course, some areas in America would absolutely suck. The coal industry would have collapsed by 2010, and the oil and gas industry would be on their last legs in 2020. States like Alaska and West Virginia would depopulation as there would be nothing for anyone to do, so they would migrate to urban centers. With the larger population experiencing economic equality and greater prosperity though, there would not really be much political support for Basic Income, though there may be more generous social welfare programs for the disabled, elderly, and unfortunate.