My favorite headline today comes from the NYT…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 11:50 AM Permalink

…in this article titled, "U.S. Losing Dominance in Space.

Excerpt:

China plans to conduct its first spacewalk in October. The European Space Agency is building a roving robot to land on Mars. India recently launched a record 10 satellites into space on a single rocket.

Space, like Earth below, is globalizing. And as it does, America's long-held superiority in exploring, exploiting and commercializing "the final frontier" is slipping away, many experts believe.

Although the United States remains dominant in most space-related fields -- and owns half the military satellites currently orbiting Earth -- experts say the nation's superiority is diminishing, and many other nations are expanding their civilian and commercial space capabilities at a far faster pace.

"We spent many tens of billions of dollars during the Apollo era to purchase a commanding lead in space over all nations on Earth," said NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, who said his agency's budget is down by 20 percent in inflation-adjusted terms since 1992.

"We've been living off the fruit of that purchase for 40 years and have not . . . chosen to invest at a level that would preserve that commanding lead."

Well, what do you expect from a country that now borrows more money at a faster pace than any nation EVER has? And that spends the money borrowed faster, better, more poorly, and the least effectively of any country in the known or unknown universe(s)?

It is a tad difference between being the most powerful nation on earth able to do as we please, as opposed to being the greatest debtor nation on earth that can't, "gladly repay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"

Labels: bush as chimp, bush hypocrisy, dictatorship, Economy, flip-flops