private enterprise in space

 Musk almost went broke when he started Space X, (2008 BBC article has the story if you aren't aware of it).... but now it is letting him own a trillion dollars of stock, so those unaware of the history of private enterprise in space are hyperventillating.

Behind the Black points out that the socialists salivating about how they could steal some of this money are missing the real story: it is about free enterprise, using money efficiently, giving many people jobs, and bringing things like starlink internet coverage to the world.

That last one is a game changer: does anyone remember how when the Ukraine was invaded, and the west dithered on whether to intervene because the experts figured the Ukraine would fall in a month, that one thing that helped them was Starlink communications>

and Starlink is providing communications for the Philippines after that terrible earthquake a few days ago. From PNA govt website:]

The deployment marks Globe's first use of Starlink’s satellite-to-mobile technology for disaster and emergency response in the Philippines. Over 700,000 Globe and TM customers stand to benefit from the deployment, receiving messaging via WhatsApp and SMS at a time when it is needed most. Globe will offer the service free of charge for up to 30 days as critical support to affected communities until Globe’s network is fully restored.

Not just coordinating help, but letting families communicate with each other Here in the Philippines, a lot of help is personal, families sending money or going down with supplies for their relatives. And when we had a bad typhoon, and had no electricity, city water, and had blocked roads, the first things our neighbors came for was to charge their cellphones because we had a generator, and fill their water jugs from our well. 

In the typhoon, the cellphone towers were working, but with an earthquake a Starlink would enable communications in areas where the lines etc were damaged.