Extraterrestrial Economics

We are rich beyond our wildest dreams. Yes, far richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined. Unfortunately, it is rather difficult for us to tap into this wealth.

I am specifically referring to the mineral wealth of the asteroid belt.

Sitting idly between Mars and Jupiter, countless debris orbit our solar system, its resources virtually untapped, and since it appears "nobody else" wants to exploit the resources, us primates have concluded that it must be ours for the plundering. The mineral wealth of the asteroid belt is beyond comprehension; if it were divided up evenly between every man, woman and child on this planet, we would each receive $100 billion!

For the amount of wealth in the asteroid belt, you can imagine that companies (and entrepreneurs) are already developing technology to harvest these minerals. At a total value of some $60 quintillion (more money than the world has ever seen, by many factors), there isn't a thing called "cost-prohibitive".

Unfortunately, you, me, and most of the world will never see this wealth. In a perfect world, we might be lucky to see the wealth of the solar system's resources divided evenly amongst the civilians of the world. But you know as well as I do, that will never happen.

Have you ever considered what would happen if we are all given a healthy sum of money from the government? Every now and then we are lucky to get tax kickbacks from the government -- sometimes we get tax rebates, other times we get rebates from oil and gas revenues, and other times we get a cheque to help cover the cost of high heating costs in winter. The money often doesn't go very far, as it's usually between 50 and 100 dollars. Comparatively, the mineral wealth of the asteroid belt is astronomical to these petty rebates.

As an example, let's not talk money, but consider commodities for a moment. Pick any collector's item -- baseball cards for example. A Mickey Mantle baseball card is worth a considerable amount of money (dependent on age, and condition). It is also valuable, as there are few of these cards in circulation. Now, let's say that everyone in the world gets a valuable Mickey Mantle card as a gratuity. What happens? There are now 6 billion Mickey Mantle cards floating around, all valueless. They are without value, simply because everybody has one.

Now I don't consider myself an economist, but the same thing happens with money. If everyone in Canada were given a million dollars, our currency would be hugely devalued. Inflation would rise through the roof, and I certainly don't like the idea of paying $2000 for a chocolate bar at 7-Eleven. The irony is that an injection of mass cash (or mass commodities) to all the citizens of a study area (country, city, world) does nothing. In fact, it does more harm than good.

With respect to the mineral wealth of the asteroid belt, no company or government would be in favor with evenly distributing the wealth of the asteroid belt. If the wealth were evenly distributed, who would finance the acquisition of raw materials? Nobody would raise their hand, because we citizens of the earth are all greedy and ignorant. Six billion people would cry in one instant "It's not my problem".

Only corporations and select governments (who have the technology) would be those interested in undertaking a mining expedition to the final frontier. And the only reason why they would consider it, would be to acquire wealth beyond anyone's dreams.

It all comes down to the simple mathematical function: Power is directly proportional to Wealth. In the adopted worldly economic system, the more money you have, the more powerful you are. The system is designed to provide an unnatural balance of wealth and power, favoring a select few at the expense of many. To change this would require a revolution of unprecedented proportions, virtually upsetting the entire world. Upsetting those who are in power has proven to be difficult (but not impossible) tasks throughout history.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin set foot on the Moon. They placed a plaque at their landing site which stated: We came in peace for all mankind. The moon landings were an incredible display of human ingenuity, determination, and economic financing. Sure, it was meant to boast American superiority with respect to economics, and technology, but it was also a kind gesture to the world that space exploration was meant for all peoples of the world, regardless of age, gender, religious affiliation, race, or citizenship. I believe shortly thereafter, a UN treaty was signed stating the Moon, as well as other celestial objects, will never be properties or acquisitions of any one country, but belonging to all peoples of Earth.

Fast-forward to today, and we see a largely different picture. George W. Bush is following Regan's footsteps in the attempt of the weaponization of space. Once the first weapon is deployed into space, a Pandora's Box is opened, thus spelling almost certain doom to all life on this planet.

In addition, there was a loophole in the UN treaty with respect to the Moon. Even though it was decreed that a country claiming property on the Moon was to be illegal, it did allow corporations the liberty to acquire property on the Moon. I know this to be a fact, as my cousin owns one acre of moon property. Obviously, one acre of Moon property is essentially valueless -- unless prospecting or other infrastructure develops on the Moon. It is anyone's guess when that will happen, but I suspect within fifty years, we will see a permanent settlement on the surface of the Moon, and then we will see moon property values begin to increase, as well as the creation of many new problems.

Those problems will have to wait until another post.