I'm not saying the "Billionaire Space Race" isn't a huge waste of money or a sign of income inequality and all that. But I don't blame people for thinking it's incredibly cool. It IS incredibly cool. Or, at least, not less cool than the original Space Race.
So the argument goes:
"we shouldn't be celebrating this Billionaire Space Race because it's just a blatant indication that these people don't pay enough taxes because they get to go to doggone SPACE while other people are homeless. Is there any greater sign of income inequality than one man flying on a private space shuttle while another sleeps under an overpass?"
Here's the thing; that dynamic was the same in the 60s during the original Space Race and will be the same as long as anyone anywhere is spending money on (ultimately fruitless) space travel.
Whether a billionaire wastes gobs of personal wealth to send himself to space or NASA uses the equivalent amount to do the same, that's still money not going to the homeless guy living under the overpass. That still represents a vanity project.
When Niel Armstrong took "one small step for man," he claimed it was also "one giant leap for mankind."
Sorry to disappoint you, but it wasn't. Besides the technological advancements we made in the process of getting to the moon (which we could have also made without actually going) the whole Space Race was nothing more than a national vanity project funded at taxpayer expense. Shoot, Apollo 11 did its whole thing just a few weeks before the Stonewall Riots. A few men returned from their extravagant moon trip days before others took to the streets in the now-famous protests. The inequality dynamic wasn't different.
It was REALLY SUPER COOL 😲😲😲 but not actually more beneficial than walking at the top of Mount Everest or something.
So the argument goes that, now, the Billionaire Space Race serves only the vanity of the wealthy rather than national progress, well, space projects only ever served vanity.
It's just not less cool now than it was then (insofar as it ever was cool) and, frankly, I'd rather see billionaires blow their own fortunes on space travel than use taxpayer money to fund the equivalent amount.