The sale or lease of NASA launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center as “surplus” government property raises several troubling questions for the American taxpayer. Since President Kennedy made his famous pledge that the U.S. would have a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s, the federal government has poured billions of taxpayer dollars into the program. Are these launch pads located in critical areas of the country really “surplus property”? Who makes those decisions? On what bases do the decision makers make those decisions? To whom are these decision makers accountable? Does the system of accountability really work to insure that the taxpayer receives ‘top dollar’ if an insufficient number of billionaires bid for the launch pads?
And how are the intangibles appraised? How are new products and inventions valued. If only two or three bid for these rights, is the American taxpayer still getting top dollar? If these billionaires have so much, why are they buying our government’s goods? Why don’t they build their own launch pads? These are all legitimate questions, yet only a few of us know anything about the plans of our government? When will our government tell us what it intends to do with allegedly “surplus” property. If there is money to be made, why aren’t we making it?
Florida’s Big Dig 