Jeff Bezos likes to present himself as a self-made man who succeeded through the wonders of the free market. In reality, Bezos is one of the biggest beneficiaries of crony capitalism.
He wouldn’t be one of the richest men on earth without government handouts — and the Amazon chieftain is seeking a new one to further enrich himself at the public’s expense.
Bezos wants the government to help fund his own space rocket program. Blue Origin, his rocket company, wants federal assistance for its New Glenn rocket, and Congress is listening.
The Senate Armed Services Committee added a lucrative bailout to the project to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Agreement this month, which would open the high-risk missions for the National Security Space Launch System (NSSL) — the program that assures our access to space — to a third contractor (likely Bezos).
Though the Armed Services Committee felt this was a great idea, the military strongly disagreed. While the Air Force is already allowing Bezos to compete for less mission-critical contracts, it wants the government to select only two providers for the most sensitive land of national security space projects (known as Lane 2).
That makes sense because Bezos’ New Glenn rocket hasn’t even launched yet. It was originally slated to do so in 2020, but it has been delayed at least four times since then.
It was reported in May that progress had been made toward a launch, but it still hasn’t gotten off the ground. Why in the world would we want this launch system anywhere near sensitive Space Force launches?
Two high-ranking Defense officials, U.S. Air Force Assistant Secretary Frank Calvelli and General David D. Thompson, Vice Chief of Space Operations for the Space Force, testified to the Strategic Forces Senate Subcommittee in April that the Air and Space Force’s only want “two fully certified launch service providers in one lane while allowing emerging providers to compete, when ready, for the DoD’s more risk-tolerant missions in another lane.”
In layman's terms, they believe it mitigates risks to keep the program limited to two providers. Adding a third one creates unnecessary risks, especially when it hasn’t been fully certified.
It would also be costly. Space Force claims that making Blue Origin a contractor for Lane 2 will add over $5 billion in unnecessary costs. It will also decrease the incentive for bidders who actually want to offer inexpensive bids.
All these costs would be for an untested rocket that hasn’t even taken off yet! This doesn’t sound like the best use of taxpayer dollars.
While this congressional change may not benefit the taxpayers, it will benefit the third richest man in the world.
Bezos owes a huge debt to American taxpayers. His core business Amazon became a commercial giant due to crony capitalism. It was for many years exempted from local and state sales taxes, which allowed the company to outcompete brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon made sure to base its facilities in areas without sales taxes to further extend its market dominance.
State and local governments did their utmost to please Amazon and get it to open shop in their areas. The corporate behemoth has received over the years nearly $3.3 billion in tax subsidy deals with state and local governments.
Without these arrangements, Amazon would not be the dominant force in ecommerce. Crony capitalism helped it control nearly 38% of the ecommerce market.
Our government should not replicate Bezos’s dominance of the ecommerce market with our space program. It’s far too critical to America’s future.
America is more dependent on space assets than ever. Reliable space launch tech is critical to maintaining our needs and staying ahead of foreign threats. We need the best technology to preserve our advantage in space. We shouldn’t waste taxpayer dollars on untested services.
Bezos is once again trying to rig the system in favor of his own interests. Awarding Blue Origin a lucrative government contract doesn’t reward the company with the best technology. It rewards those with the best lobbyists.
Julio Rivera is a small business consultant, political activist, writer, and editorial director. He has been a regular contributor to Newsmax since 2016, on both its web pages and television network. His commentary has also appeared in The Hill, The Washington Times, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Toronto Sun, and more. Read Julio Rivera's Reports — More Here.