Re: SPACE: Lunar warfare

Hara Ra (harara@shamanics.com)
Thu, 09 Jan 1997 01:42:16 -0800

Michael Lorrey wrote:
> Any lunar settlers would contain a high percentage of people who are
> disposessed, alienated, exiled, as who would give up living on earth if
> they didn't HAVE to? THink of this: a lunar settling corporation puts
> together a deal with earth governments strapped with overpopulated
> welfare rolls to take welfarees off their hands for a set fee. The corp
> ships em to the moon and puts them to work shoveling dirt and growing
> food. how many of these people would be PISSED at the earth for kicking
> them out?

Unlikely. When L5 colonies were more popular some studies were made of
the costs
of moving to the American colonies in the 1600s. It turned out the cost
for an
individual was about that of a house in the Midwest ($60,000 in todays
money),
which could be paid off in 5-10 years of work. The contract was called
indentured
labor. Unfortunately the cost of moving to a L5 colony was about 100x
this
number and therefore not economically feasible.

AFAIK, every job training program for welfare has essentially failed,
both due
to the lack of jobs for the trainees and the wothlessness of the skills
being
trained for.

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| Hara Ra <harara@shamanics.com> |
| Box 8334 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 |
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