Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:Quality (Score 1) 38

No, these are fixed price contracts. When Boeing's OFT-1 flight needed to be repeated, Boeing took the hit financially to the tune of around $500M, not NASA. Boeing doesn't stand to gain anything by delaying commercial crew. Not only do they make themselves look bad compared to SpaceX, but they lose money. Payments are tied to milestones, not costs. Basically the opposite of SLS, which is a huge cost plus contract for Boeing. SpaceX is getting paid less than Boeing because that's what SpaceX asked for. NASA wanted to choose 2 companies for fixed price commercial crew contracts and ran a blind bidding process. SpaceX bid super low because they had no idea what others were bidding and wanted to win the contract. SpaceX's COO has since admitted that they will most likely lose money on commercial crew due to their very low bid. Congress doesn't need to examine NASA's procurement methods. NASA has done a great job with commercial crew. They funded the development and follow-on missions for 2 different capsules with a relatively small budget compared to what they would have spent. And assumed very little financial risk due to the fixed price contracts, which is unusual for high-dollar space vehicle contracts. Congress is the one that consistently forces NASA to spend more on SLS than they ask for every year despite the program being far over budget and behind schedule. If congress had their way, NASA would have never done COTS or commercial crew and stuck to cost plus handouts to Boeing & Co.
Government

A Rural County's New Universal Basic Income Experiment - and the Case Against It (ksat.com) 354

Amid worries that technological advances may someday eliminate jobs, the Associated Press reports on a new experimental universal basic income program in upstate New York: During the pilot program, funded by private donations, 100 county residents making less than $46,900 annually will get $500 a month for a year. The income threshold was based on 80% of the county's average median income, meaning it includes both the poor and a slice of the middle class — people who face financial stress but might not ordinarily qualify for government aid based on income.

For researchers, the pilot could give them a fuller picture of what happens when a range of people are sent payments that guarantee a basic living... Basic income programs elsewhere tend to focus on cities. In contrast, this upstate program stretches out over a mix of places: a city, small towns and remote areas many miles from bus lines and supermarkets. "Showing that this approach will work not just in urban areas, but for rural parts of the country — which we know is one of our big national problems — I think there's great opportunity there," said Ulster County Executive Patrick Ryan... Center for Guaranteed Income Research co-founder Stacia West, who is evaluating more than 20 such pilot programs, is interested in seeing how spending compares to cities like Stockton, California, where more that a third went for food. "Knowing what we know about barriers to employment, especially in rural areas, we may see more money going toward transportation than we've ever seen before in any other experiment," said West, also a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work...

The end goal for a number of advocates is a universal basic income, or UBI, which would distribute cash payment programs for all adults... Critics of cash transfer programs worry about their effectiveness and cost compared to aid programs that target funds for food, shelter or for help raising children. Drake University economics professor Heath Henderson is concerned the programs miss needier people less likely to apply, including those without homes. While there are times people might benefit from a cash infusion, the money is unlikely to address the structural issues holding people back, like inadequate health care and schools, he said.

"If we keep thinking about remedying poverty in terms of just throwing cash at people, you're not thinking about the structures that kind of reproduce poverty in the first place and you're not really solving the problem at all," Henderson said.

Comment Re:Really rubbing the salt in Boeing's wounds (Score 3, Informative) 63

*3rd Manned flight for Dragon. 2nd operational flight. The first manned flight was technically a test flight and only carried 2 astronauts vs. the normal 4. Nevertheless, it went well enough that they kept the astronauts up there for a couple months to do real work.

Slashdot Top Deals

Interchangeable parts won't.

Working...