People Are Tired Of Billionaires Racing For Space As Climate Change Claims More Lives

@richardbranson, RBReich/Twitter

July 12, 2021, 11:35 am

Billionaire Richard Branson went to space Sunday, sort of, and by Monday morning social media was full of people talking about how fed up they are with impossibly rich people creating a completely unnecessary space race between their rich friends while the rest of us are sweating it out down here on Earth. As the U.S. continues to experience severe heat waves that are melting concrete and leading state governments to beg residents not to use their microwaves, many are beginning to wonder why there isn’t a race to solve climate change instead.

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First of all, we’ve already done the space race. Technically, the Soviet Union won that one, then the U.S. won the race to the moon, and now we have people in space literally all the time. It’s also been disputed as to whether Branson actually made it into space as his craft only made it 53 miles off the Earth’s surface—nine miles short of the internationally recognized line between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. However, he did get to float around his spaceship and feel special.

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If you have billions of dollars and use it to go to outer space instead of saving the planet (which is literally on fire) then you are a horrible person.

— God (@thegoodgodabove) July 11, 2021

Others were displeased to find out that Branson’s company, Virgin Galactic, is subsidized by taxpayer money. None of these efforts by Branson, Musk, or Bezos to reach space seems to have any real application for helping the many poor, hungry, displaced, and oppressed here on Earth, but are all efforts to be the first to launch his luxury space travel and hospitality business for other obscenely rich folks.

The entire spectacle is really getting on the nerves of people who have been fighting to solve Earth’s problems but have been constantly dismissed by those who say it’s too expensive.

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Poverty isn’t a character flaw. But choosing to play astronaut when you could house every single person in the country certainly is.

— Read Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler (@JoshuaPotash) July 12, 2021

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The billionaire class is going to space decades after government did it first, using surplus resources that should have gone to finance that government but didn’t, and then using that dubious achievement as proof that they are more efficient than government.

— Anand Giridharadas @ The.Ink (@AnandWrites) July 12, 2021

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which billionaire will win the race to be the first man to literally fuck the moon? a slowly boiling world waits with bated breath

— inverted vibe curve: burgertown must be defended (@PatBlanchfield) July 12, 2021

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No one needs billionaires to colonize outer space. We need them to pay their fair share of taxes so people can thrive here on Earth.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) July 12, 2021

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In the pandemic the world added a record 118 million people who are chronically hungry and global billionaires added a record $4 trillion to their wealth.

The cost to end world hunger ($330 billion) is what billionaires made in one month and instead they’re going to space.

— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) July 12, 2021

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I couldn’t give two shits that a billionaire has made it to space. If you want my respect then tackle homelessness or make water clean for everyone. Instead of “He who dies with the most toys wins” how about “He who uses their wealth to help the most people wins”. https://t.co/e3HexFoINT

— Richard N. Ojeda, II (@Ojeda4America) July 12, 2021

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Like many, the “billionaire space race” brought to mind Gil Scott-Heron’s 1970 poem “Whitey On the Moon” which critiqued race-class dynamics in aftermath of Apollo 11’s moon landing.

I cut this video as a meditation on Scott-Heron’s words in light of current events. Enjoy pic.twitter.com/YfklYmwVCe

— DEFUND & ABOLISH POLICE, REFUND OUR COMMUNITIES (@BreeNewsome) July 12, 2021

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I’m more impressed by the girl who won the spelling bee than the billionaire who went to space.

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) July 11, 2021

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Congrats to @richardbranson on going to almost-space in a plane, thus adding to the long list of billionaire “achievements” that are really just mediocre versions of much cooler things we already did decades ago through collective endeavor financed by taxes.

— Dan Riffle (@DanRiffle) July 11, 2021

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One important takeaway from billionaires going to space is that we should have a wealth tax now.

— Anand Giridharadas @ The.Ink (@AnandWrites) July 11, 2021

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*First Published: July 12, 2021, 11:35 am