"Further investment will cement Texas as the preeminent location for innovation."
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Texas is planning to make a huge public investment in space
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$30 billion could go a long way toward fixing the electrical grid. Might require a little legislation, too, though.
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I wonder if that money might be better invested in fixing the power grid to improve its reliability, especially in light of the more extreme weather that they are experiencing in Texas due to climate change. Maybe basic education would be a better investment, too- a little less Jesus and a little more science and math...
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GOP: against "government handouts" - except when they (or their lobbyists' orgs) are the recipients
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I'm all for government investment in space, but it's interesting that a state complains about federal government involvement and then asks the same government for money.
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Crash Bandicoor
Ars Centurion
Texas kind of sucks. Lived there for a few years. Hill country is meh, cities look like ass, only advantage is taxes and you end up losing a lot with ridiculous property taxes. Ohh and the infrastructure sucks. The kicker is that Texans turn into big babies if you criticize their state. Not worth it to move to Austin (which is a dump imho) if you’re an affluent tech worker.
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Doesn't this come dangerously close to supporting science? I thought Republicans were against that (see the mRNA article).
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Texas answering the age old science fiction question of "how did these regressive fucks make it to space?".
Subsidies.
Subsidies.
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I love the idea of investing in space in Texas. But with Abbott and his fellow cynical grifters, I have such low faith that this won’t end up as a gift to powerful interests who already have plenty of hundreds of millions of dollars. Given their record, I can’t trust them not to rob schools and infrastructure programs to pay off billionaires by building roads to nowhere. Ugh. There should be plenty of money for all of it, but somehow even with this huge surplus, they won’t spread it around.
Here’s hoping something worthwhile comes of it. But this sounds like $350MM the average Texan will never see again in this lifetime.
Here’s hoping something worthwhile comes of it. But this sounds like $350MM the average Texan will never see again in this lifetime.
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While there are several states that elicit a collective sigh of disappointment, Texas & Florida are the anchors that prevent the US from being a modern country with a positive future. Texas could secede as it is want to constantly warn, and very little would be lost in the long term.
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You assume this isn't just a give away to a few rich people who probably politically support Abbot. The man has shown himself to be very shady and corrupt, and the legislature has no balls to reign him in.
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Yeah, I get that it's possible to multitask, and you can legislate a bunch of things at once. But having gone without power for 84 hours this winter, and having had to boil water for a week the year before, and having had to do both the year before that, it's a little galling to me that Abbott is happy to ask for more money to support corporate interests while leaving the broader constituency to suffer. And I say that as a lover of all things space.
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I'm sure branson will be there first in line, with his nose in the trough. Lotsa promises, lotsa cash in his pocket, and the texans will not even be inconvienenced by the actual execution of work or action on his part, just empty promises (ask New Mexico, the Emirates, Cornwall and all the suckers lined up for rides to space for 15 years now).
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I'm sure it had nothing to do with Florida (and Texas) being about as close as you can get to the equator -- and it advantage in getting to orbit -- while still remaining in the continental US.
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From the article:
Texas has a historic budget surplus this year due to oil prices, inflation, and other factors driving economic growth. The state is projected to have $188.2 billion available in general revenue for funding the business of the state over the 2024–2025 period, a surplus of $32.7 billion over spending during the previous two years.
If that is true then why is our school district short on money:
https://communityimpact.com/houston.../fort-bend-isd-considers-budget-cuts-in-2023/
Also:
The government shouldn't go out and find new uses for these new tax dollars, it should pay of it's debt and help out the local governments.
/rant
Texas has a historic budget surplus this year due to oil prices, inflation, and other factors driving economic growth. The state is projected to have $188.2 billion available in general revenue for funding the business of the state over the 2024–2025 period, a surplus of $32.7 billion over spending during the previous two years.
If that is true then why is our school district short on money:
https://communityimpact.com/houston.../fort-bend-isd-considers-budget-cuts-in-2023/
Also:
http://www.brb.state.tx.us/state_debt.aspx
The government shouldn't go out and find new uses for these new tax dollars, it should pay of it's debt and help out the local governments.
/rant
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So Texas decided on a "massive" expansion of government to make sure "the free market" won't decide on its own?
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You realize there are a lot of us here who have no desire to secede, who hate the current state of affairs in Texas, and who are actively trying to foment change here (even though most of the time it feels totally futile)?
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The legislature is, by and large, getting their pockets lined by the same interests. They're mostly complicit.
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Reading the article left me incredibly sceptical that this is just a $350m handout. I love investment in space, but if this is a handout...
Reading TexSpace vision for the future left me hopeful. Hopeful that this commission they championed for has an actual vision, and might make good use of such an enormous budget. New STEM university near space ports. DoD high sensitivity launch facilities. High speed rail to connect Brownsville to the major cities. Investments in power generation. Sounds like people in that organization are legitimately considering what life might be like if the aerospace industry keeps accelerating.
However, not sure I agree that Ad Astra will be pioneering nuclear propulsion in a few years. I'll be impressed if they still exist.
Reading TexSpace vision for the future left me hopeful. Hopeful that this commission they championed for has an actual vision, and might make good use of such an enormous budget. New STEM university near space ports. DoD high sensitivity launch facilities. High speed rail to connect Brownsville to the major cities. Investments in power generation. Sounds like people in that organization are legitimately considering what life might be like if the aerospace industry keeps accelerating.
However, not sure I agree that Ad Astra will be pioneering nuclear propulsion in a few years. I'll be impressed if they still exist.
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It is amazing. (Allegedly) trying to get cutting edge technology to come to Texas while simultaneously making the place a hellhole no normal person would want to live in by completely ignoring infrastructure and quality of life. Yeah, this has grift written all over in billboard type.
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The problem is we damn well know they have no intent to do anything about the problems on the ERCOT interconnect. If you live in Texas, better hope you are near the border and not in an ERCOT area.
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Try not to project your own political party's flaws onto everyone else.
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luckily as he stated on his blog, he dosent believe in bailouts or government subsidies so he won’t be there asking for any of it /s
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Russians and Chinese spacecraft are increasingly or simply out of the question. We need to focus on building and deploying at home or with other Western nations.
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So, we should expect a future where the price of asteroids-mined minerals is controlled by the Texas Spaceflight Commission?
I'll admit I didn't expect that little bit of dystopia...
I'll admit I didn't expect that little bit of dystopia...
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So a more serious talk. As a corporation I can't see why anyone would willingly invest capital in Florida, when you have a government that is willing to pass legislation to punish companies at the whim of a governor. While Texas hasn't started down this road it is certainly a risk with politicians like Abbot.
It is hard to leave once you're there, but are people really going to want to invest significant long term capital in a place where the government might try to personally punish your company.
Would incentives like these be worth the risk that operating in these states have to your workers and capital investments?
It is hard to leave once you're there, but are people really going to want to invest significant long term capital in a place where the government might try to personally punish your company.
Would incentives like these be worth the risk that operating in these states have to your workers and capital investments?
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In Florida at this point I think disagreeing with the governor is enough to get your business targeted. I doubt this is limited to supporting LGBTQ folk.
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Texas may not have a state income tax, but I pay more in property taxes than I do in federal income taxes. And that doesn't include state sales taxes. But, I don't have a real basis for comparison with other states to decide whether calling Texas a low tax state is accurate or not. I can tell you that it isn't just one property tax. There are at least half a dozen governmental agencies with property taxing powers on my house and it is a lot to keep up with who they are accountable to.
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