Walter E. Block

The Failure of Public Finance

A number of explanations are commonly presented in public finance texts as reasons why government intervention in the economy will improve performance. This chapter questions the validity of each of them. The chapter examines the merit goods argument, equity considerations, growth and development, and stabilization, and finds the arguments offered in their behalf to be unpersuasive. Public finance as presented in textbooks is seen as relying on rather dubious normative arguments.

Why Privatize Space Travel and Colonization

We urge this course of action on the basis of a brief history of state-run programs, which have been undertaken for less than stellar reasons such as the development of weapons of war, and even misguided attempts to garner prestige. We discuss alternatives to chemical launches from the earths surface including rocket launches from an aircraft and an elevator to the sky. We remark upon the advantages of private launches vis-a-vis their government counterparts, and the implied limits of ownership. We ask of interplanetary travel, is it always an orbit? We deliberate upon the implications for property rights of space exploration.

Public Goods: Basic Research and Terraforming

We reject the theory of market failure, according to which some items are “public goods” which either cannot be produced by private enterprise at all or, if so, then too little. Basic research and terraforming are supposed to be examples of this critique of the free-enterprise system, and we find both wanting. Terraforming, in particular, might well be one way in which Mars will become habitable. So it is very important from our point of view, to demonstrate that this could be accomplished without any “aid” from government.

Who Are the Libertarians in the Space Initiative

We ask the following actors in the space race, whether or not they on the side of the angels: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Peter Diamandis, United Launch Alliance (ULA) (a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security), Burt Rutan, Paul Allen, and Orbital ATK. As per usual, our litmus test consists of the libertarian principle of non-initiation of aggression and private property rights. Musk, for example, has done yeoman work in lifting mankind off the planet. But he has done so with massive government subsidies, based on compulsory taxation, a no-no for libertarianism. Read this chapter to find out our assessment of these people and organizations from a libertarian perspective. We draw a sharp distinction between crony capitalism and laissez-faire capitalism. (Spoiler: Musk does not make the grade.)

Space-Oriented Writers

This is a parallel chapter to the one immediately preceding it. Only this time instead of space activists, we focus our baleful eyes on several of the many authors who have written about the movement to transfer human butts off the planet. We include the following books: Petranek, Stephen L., How we’ll live on Mars; Lewis, John S., Mining the sky: Untold riches from the asteroids, comets and planets; Rader, Andrew, Leaving Earth: Why one-way to Mars makes sense; International Astronomical Union, The Heinlein Crater.

Privatize Space Travel

Our motive for writing this book is our love for humanity. To that end, we urge that we not keep all of our “eggs” in one earthly basket, but rather spread them out over the entire solar system and, eventually, beyond. To this end, we recommend private enterprise as the best means toward this end.

Space Boondoggles: NASA, STEM Subsidies

NASA’s budget for 2015 was

The Gas Giants

1.8 billion. Would anything like this amount have been forthcoming from private investors and consumers? Not bloody likely. Hence, this amount, or something very much like it, can be considered a waste of money. The moon landing of 1969 cost some

Man’s Inhumanity to Man

25.4 billion. Was that worth it? There is no evidence demonstrating that it was. Then there were the Challenger and Columbia debacles. Had private enterprise been responsible for such catastrophes, new management would have supplanted the old. NASA is still in “business.” STEM subsidies further misallocate resources away from the patterns that would emerge under a regime of economic freedom.

The Minimum Wage Once Again

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune fall under this rubric. Why even mention them in the same breath as colonization, given that the prospects for this appear so far in the future? For several answers to this question, as well as a description of them all from a free-market perspective, read the chapter. As well, we also focus on the challenges they pose against mankind exploiting them.