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Originally Posted by Rekna
Have private companies come up with a way to send anything into space yet?
Another example, it is in the interest of insurance companies to deny coverage whenever the costs are high. Does the free market protect us there?
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There is Orbital and a few other private satellite launching companies. If you have a few million, they can blast a few kilograms of stuff into orbit.
The law is supposed to protect us, but the legal system's problems are a whole other thread.
The 'free' market isn't perfect, and once everything gets established, it will be very hard to make a better product or compete against a large multi-national corporation when they can buy you out. The internet/personal computers has changed a lot of stuff, and it is a big reason why things are doing so good since 1989 to now. (War also tends to R&D and new technology, but following the money gets hard real quick.)
I would like to see an R&D tax, it would fund reasearch that might not be immediately profitable (or ever profitable if it makes things free).