What about extreme weather conditions? In many places around the country, these come without much warning. A patch of thick fog or a sudden torrent of rains can easily drops visibility around a section of the highway or curve. If you slow down too much, you may cause accidents where drivers behind you rear end your car. Same with black ice or animals on the road. There are some situations where you can't just blame the driver for negligence. Driving is inherently risky. You take on that risk and responsibility for driving safely when you apply for a license. That is why you're required to have car insurance.

Sadly, projects like this already exists in kickstarter. Exhibit A: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ribwt/step_1_get_money_from_kickstarter_step_2_abandon/

Too bad there's really no way to give feedback. I wish kickstarter would work more similar to a traditional VC. You receive rounds of funding based on performance goals and deliverables instead of a lump sum to spend on whatever you want.

That would be really cool. Thought I imagine the maintenance costs (especially due to corrosion from the salty air and tropical storms) may make it a little less attractive than conventional means.

They're saying there is no market for investing in new expensive launch vehicles with all the quadruple redundancies and fail-safes imposed by the government. There's already a crop of old but reliable Soviet technology that does the same.

I wouldn't count DC as a major US city. That said, I think only NYC, SF, and parts of LA and Chicago have such ridiculous high costs of living to make 80K only marginally above-average pay. I enjoyed a fairly well-off lifestyle in the midwest before moving moving out here to silicon valley. My monthly rent for my tiny hole-in-the-wall apartment is more than my spacious luxurious condo in the Midwest. Add in the utilities and higher cost of groceries, gas, etc, the 30% jump in salary just doesn't cut it.