From: Roger Books <books@m...>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 10:56:31 -0500 (EST)
Subject: UN financing
Here is one possibility for UN financing. In order to forestall problems with property rights over the solar system the UN owns rights to everything that is in the Sol's solar system other than Earth. They also maintain research stations in many of the more interesting places. Any nation is welcome to use the research facilities owned by the UN with the caveat that the UN is 1/2 owner in whatever discoveries/inventions are created. While this is rather hard to enforce the UN also gets a cut of anything produced in space and they also own most of the asteriods which are used to supply resources to Earths industries. Mars is also used for many industries which require gravity but are too ecologically damaging, which often include things the politically influential "Green" party thinks is harmful with little or no evidence. While the UN has a populace, mostly it is the few people who choose to live in the inhospitable areas of the Solar System. These people in general are loner asteriod prospectors or scientists. Do note that the UN has little/no jurisdiction over Earth itself out to geosynchronous orbit. Sound like a basis for reasonable UN financing while leaving it as a fairly impartial organization?