"It is hard to start a space tourism business if the person developing your vehicles is barred from showing the CEO of the company the designs (as happened to Virgin Galactic for a couple years because Richard Branson is not a US citizen"
Realize anyone with the ability to get to orbit has the ability to drop things on the USA.
Contrary to popular belief, the people in government who make laws and control regulation are not bumbling idiots. Sure, it's easy to make jokes about the DMV or the post office, but the reality is that the person at the counter you interact with doesn't make laws. The guys making laws are generally really sharp and well educated, and in fact a lot of them actually have economics degrees because it is a great background for that position. So they probably understand better than you or I roughly how many jobs are going to be killed by these tight regulations.
That is weighed against the military's desire to keep space less open for security reasons. For a long time the military was winning the argument. It has slowly started changing, but the delay certainly has nothing to do with a mis-understanding of economics.
"Contrary to popular belief, the people in government who make laws and control regulation are not bumbling idiots."
Actually, in the case of the export restriction laws in question, they were bumbling idiots. These laws were passed in haste after there was an accidental disclosure of technology from the U.S. to the Chinese during an investigation of a launch failure. The law is terribly vague, with industry leaders unable to tell even what is covered by it or isn't. Additionally, enforcement responsibility moved from the Commerce Department to the Defense Department, with a concomitant increase in red tape that really only a large prime defense contractor could have the resources to cope with.
It would not be too much of a stretch to say that this law would be like outlawing airline travel completely on the basis of security concerns arising out of 9/11.
Finally, the arguments that will bring about a much needed change to these regulations will not be economic in nature, they will be arguments about national security. Already there is an international market for technologies untainted by U.S. control. Unfortunately for the U.S., the need for that market is going away as U.S. companies have been isolated for so long, and other nations have been so free to cooperate for so long, that non-U.S. space technology is, for the most part, superior to U.S. technology on cost, reliability, and performance bases. We, the U.S., are losing the larger security war by winning every local security battle with senseless and callous efficiency.
Perhaps not for you and your colleagues, but for the folks at the state department charged with enforcement, it often seems to depend on their personal interpretation on a given day.
... and in fact a lot of them actually have economics degrees because it is a great background for that position. So they probably understand better than you or I roughly how many jobs are going to be killed by these tight regulations.
Maybe things have change a lot in the last three years, but:
"As Congress works on one of the most important pieces of economic legislation in a generation, a Washington research group has pointed out that more than 8 in 10 members of Congress don’t have a formal educational background in the business, economics, or finance fields."
"The research by the Center for Economic and Entrepreneurial Literacy, which aims to educate the general public about finance issues, showed that about 14% have degrees in economics-related fields and just 6.7% specifically have an economics degree. More than 30% of members have degrees in politics and government, while 18% majored in humanities. "
Members of congress != people who write the laws. A member of congress is the politician. He talks. He presses the flesh. He casts the actual votes. I recently saw that is it 70% lawyers, 15% career politicians, 10% businessmen, and 5% other.
But behind every congressman, every senator, and of course the President, is a group of experts. Every policy paper is written by a staffer. Nearly every political decision is made by a staffer. When they talk about a Congressman's staff, they are not talking about the intern getting coffee. Those guys are topical experts - usually based on what committee the guy sits on. Those guys are not dumb, and a lot more of them have econ degrees.
When I was figuring out what to do with my life it was become an engineer or become a staffer, I spoke to a couple guys in it. The typical road is go to Georgetown or George Washington University and get degrees in economics and political science or public policy, intern during college on a campaign or for a congressman, and then work your way up to a paid position. It's quite competitive.
But behind every congressman, every senator, and of course the President, is a group of experts. Every policy paper is written by a staffer. Nearly every political decision is made by a staffer.
And yet numerous bone-headed, ill-conceived, laws are written and passed.
While politicians may have smart technical people on their team it appears that, in the end, they choose what laws are written (and passed) based on political expediency, not, technical merit.
I have to wonder then if politicians are willfully ignoring their experts, or if they discount their experts because they themselves still can't grasp what they are being told. Or they pick experts who agree with their foregone conclusions.
At the end of the day this country would be better served with more politicians with proper economic and scientific educations. (That would eliminate a good number of so-called Tea Party candidates for one thing.)
I understand that I'm being an idealist and that there are real life complexities that prevent this naive world view, but I'm not really happy that our petty military concerns and human-wide in fighting is now keeping us and private industry from exploring our greater Universe.
I understand why it's done, but I still find it unfortunate and worthy of criticism.
For the military, that is a feature not a bug.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Launch#Concerns_and_investi...
Realize anyone with the ability to get to orbit has the ability to drop things on the USA.
Contrary to popular belief, the people in government who make laws and control regulation are not bumbling idiots. Sure, it's easy to make jokes about the DMV or the post office, but the reality is that the person at the counter you interact with doesn't make laws. The guys making laws are generally really sharp and well educated, and in fact a lot of them actually have economics degrees because it is a great background for that position. So they probably understand better than you or I roughly how many jobs are going to be killed by these tight regulations.
That is weighed against the military's desire to keep space less open for security reasons. For a long time the military was winning the argument. It has slowly started changing, but the delay certainly has nothing to do with a mis-understanding of economics.