Our heroes will always disappointus.

Keep in mind, too, that Branson's and Bezos' joy rides paid the salaries of the employees of various companies who played a role in getting his ego trips off the ground, from those that built the vehicles to those that catered the after-party.

I can't understand people to look at these jaunts as expressions of "ego." When I first started earning money for more than peanut butter sandwiches, I enjoyed going out for sushi. Was that "ego"? At the cusp of old age, a few investments have paid off. Is a sports car 'egotistical'? I am compelled to stay in a Honda Civic until the day I die?

Were I one of the richest space travel would be the least of it.

Haspel.

If only Jeff was using his own money...

https://fee.org/articles/the-us-senate-is-trying-to-give-jeff-bezos-10-billion-of-your-tax-dollars/

Yes, getting something more than a Honda Civic is an expression of your ego, defining ego more in the Freudian sense than in screaming public self-worship.

The difference here is that, in buying a sports car, you are still fulfilling your need for transportation, just tailoring that choice to your preferences.

A vacation, for most people does fulfill a need, a need to relax and recharge the batteries. A trip into near-space is not a vacation. It is simply saying one has enough money that one can buy one's way into the unique identity of being an astronaut / space traveler.

Let's face it, Branson's and Bezos' trips are ego trips. But, they've done the work to earn the money to enable them to take those ego trips. So, more power to them. I don't begrudge anyone an ego trip, as long as I don't have to pay for it, in temporal, financial, or social capital.

Besides, let's face it, if any of us had that kind of money and could take that trip, we likely would - provided we're not prone to air sickness.

> If only Jeff was using
> his own money...

Well, ten billion is an interesting figure.

Could you doubt that under Bezo's attentive eye, we won't get more value for the money than if it went to career bureaucrats?

My preferred mockery is saved for people who think they ought to tell other people how to live their lives, and then actually think they should be allowed to force them to do so.

Of course, you can mock whom you want, public figure or not. Because unsolicited advice always is so effective and never an indicator of your own failings. /sarc

> in buying a sports car, you
> are still fulfilling your need
> for transportation, just tailoring
> that choice to your preferences.

Um… It would be a '22 C8… Probably purchased in time for next summertime, after which it would be converted back into cash/oldguy investments: Dentures; hearing aides. (Before it happens, a safe garage for weekday storage will have to be identified.)

The seats are miserable, especially the passenger side: it's not impressive to chicks. Rear storage might hold a grocery bag, if it's the flexible plastic kind. Front storage could hold a pair of flip-flops.

So it's not for transit, and it's not for transport. And if it could be made invisible to the surrounding community, that would be perfect, I'd want one anyway. Is it still an ego thing?

A pattern here (and social media) seems to be that if one envies a billionaire for space travel, or believes that others so envy a billionaire, the motive for the billionaire must be an off-putting demonstration of social, um, elevation.

But maybe they just always wanted to do that, ever since they were dweeby little boys. And they wanted to pay their own way.

Imagine if it were revealed next spring that Branson & Bezos had made these trips without telling anyone— The social media response would be just as bitter.

Could you doubt that under Bezo's attentive eye, we won't get more value for the money than if it went to career bureaucrats? ~ Crid at July 22, 2021 6:59 AM

Well, both Elon Musk's and Jeff Bezos' adventures in space included recovering the rockets afterward. NASA's adventures in space did not until the shuttle. That puts Musk and Bezos on top, value-wise. Conversely, NASA got to the moon and back multiple times using the equivalent computing power of a musical greeting card, so it gets the win accomplishment-wise.

If only Jeff was using his own money... ~ I R A Darth Aggie at July 22, 2021 6:34 AM

For the Blue Origins ride, he was.

That the Senate is attempting to bypass the review process and take the moon contract away from Musk and give it to Bezos is disturbing. So far, the only company that has shown the consistent ability to fly into space and return is SpaceX. That the government is involved in any way is also disturbing. Let the three space exploration companies battle it out to reach the moon with their own money.

That the Cheesecake Factory got $50 billion from the federal government is truly disturbing - well beyond space exploration companies getting handouts. At least they have the potential to provide society with a long-term benefit. What on earth could a mediocre restaurant provide to the government that is worth more than the GDP of Wyoming or Vermont?

Envy is a dangerous emotion. It is often claimed that the rich need to "give back to the community" but the only way to honestly make money is to provide a product or service people want/need. The people slamming Bezos don't give up their Prime account or their Mac. Billionaires in the US at least earned their money by building a business that employs hundreds of thousands of people. If you jack up taxes and make it hard to start a business, those new jobs will simply not materialize. This in fact is what has happened in Europe, with persistent 10% unemployment.

Um… It would be a '22 C8… ~ Crid at July 22, 2021 7:28 AM

Never been a big Corvette guy - at least for anything beyond the '69 convertible. This is assuming we're talking about the Corvette and not the Mazda C8. Having owned a couple of MX-5s and a Boxster, my sports car tastes run to toss-able roadsters - although watching Bullitt last night rekindled an interest in American muscle. The current ride is the polar opposite of all of those, a Jeep Wrangler.

Thing is, not a car guy over here— Haven't been holding my breath for the mid-engined Stingray for twenty years or anything. But in the understanding of the word that's been floating around for the last couple of decades, it's a genuine supercar… At a price where you can afford to lose money for a few months to cross an important item off the bucket list.

If only sex with two internationally-beloved supermodels was so easy! American consumer tech still has mountains to climb.

Appleby's has to be looking at CF thing, and thinking dafuq.

> Of course, you can mock whom
> you want, public figure or not.
> Because unsolicited advice always
> is so effective and never an
> indicator of your own
> failings. /sarc

Well, I *am* a failure by comparison, and I made a point of mocking both Bezos and Branson on this blog the other night, but only because looking up who flied higher longer woulda been too much trouble. This story is basically gossip column BS.

As a principle in modern times, most anyone (not EVERYONE) who's done well in life and contemporary (heavily-regulated) finance probably deserves mockery. The odds are such that you should take your shot first and apologize when necessary… It won't be often.

Crid, I don't think you fall into my category ...

"My preferred mockery is saved for people who think they ought to tell other people how to live their lives, and then actually think they should be allowed to force them to do so."

because I don't think you meet the second prong of the test. And maybe not the first, because I'm not sure you think you ought to tell others how to live ... it's more of a spectator sport that we all engage in than it is a moral imperative.

Reserving the right to call people rude names.

As Conan has said before, "We demand perfection of those admired by others."
So, if you admire the achievement of those who have made a fortune - or merely kept it - or are simply in the news for having it - you will be roundly criticized for any observation.

Every measure you might propose to limit wealth will hit YOU.

Of course "Constans" can mock whomever ze wants; and I can mock zer for committing one of the seven deadly sins called envy.

Or in "Constans" case is it really "penis envy" because Bezos "rocket" took a few people into space and zers "rocket" won't even take ze out of cyperspace?

Enjoy the early days. Once they get warp drive figured out, it's going to be Borg and Romulans out the wazoo.

I just think it's a bit rich (ha, ha!) for Bezos to come back from his wee adventure, waxing lyrical on the fragility of our planet. I mean how did he get rich enough to indulge himself? Why by creating an entity built on unnecessary consumption of goods, which accelerates climate change. Nice of him to up our awareness of these issues, but if he really wants to help, he could reform his business model.

RJ, that's ludicrous, cliched, and sophomoric. There's no reason to believe you know anything about climate change, "unnecessary consumption," or business models.

*unnecessary consumption* seems to be the camel’s nose under the tent to full blown totalitarian socialism. That’s why the greens love it so much.

And guess who will be the arbiter of what consumption is "unecessary?"

This is one of the fundamental problems ... people who want some sociatal collective decision about what is unnecessary, and those of us who understand that is a very personal individual decision best left without outside interference.

And the worst people you can outsource these decisions to are those people who are convinced they are doing it for your own good.

"Once they get warp drive figured out, it's going to be Borg and Romulans out the wazoo."

Somewhere a dreamer is asking, "Why not?"

ruralcounsel at July 23, 2021 4:44 AM

✔︎

Somewhere else, a better dreamer is answering: "Because you watch too much Star Trek."

You are probably holding a personal communicator which is capable of being called by the international space station - which in fact could not be patented as a flip phone because it had already been shown in Star Trek. You are already on your way to the future.