[tjic]

> I live in the Central Florida/Space Coast area, and there is a palpable fear that soon all these aerospace jobs will be gone

Those aren't jobs - they're welfare checks, taken from working Americans in return for very very very little of value.

I hope that the folks on the Space Coast are right. They can all go get real jobs (even if it's at Target), and the free market space industry can deliver for several orders of magnitude less.

[dackmilliken]

I would much rather hand a "welfare" check to an aerospace engineer than an average Joe.

Also, if the free market space industry does pan out in our lifetimes, I think they would love to have these aerospace guys working for them even if they have such "little of value."

[jbooth]

You know, I'm as hopeful about free market space flight as anyone, but as of now, there categorically isn't a free market space industry.