Time for an update to former US President Bill Clinton's well-known mantra from the 1992 presidential campaign.  It is indeed about "the economy," but which one?  Broadly and historically speaking, humanity has transitioned through various economies; hunter/gatherer, agricultural, industrial, information... and now the earliest stage of a space economy as more economic activity moves further away from the surface of the Earth.  It may begin with sub-orbital tourist flights in the next few years, but don't mistake that for anything but the beginning of the emerging space economy.

And what's this got to do with Chinese food on the Moon? 

I love The Economist magazine.  Forget about Time, Newsweek and US News & World Report; they can't touch The Economist for sound reporting on matters of global concern.  In "A special report on Innovation" in the Oct. 13, 2007 issue you'll find this gem:  "Carl Schramm, president of the Kaufman Foundation, which studies entrepreneurship and innovation, says that 'for the United States to survive and continue its economic and political leadership in the world, we must see entrepreneurship as our central comparative advantage.  Nothing else can give us the necessary leverage to remain an economic superpower.'"  This is so important it should be said three times, the way "location, location, location" is the prime maxim of the real estate business.

Nevertheless, the highest levels of political leadership in Washington, DC chooses to ignore this when it comes to advancing US human space activity, as made obvious by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin's recent pronouncement that he believes China will land taikonauts on the Moon before NASA lands astronauts on the Moon.  While I don't consider this likely, it wouldn't surprise me.  More importantly, if this does happen it will only be because Americans contiue to rely on NASA to return Americans to the Moon rather than heed Mr. Schramm and create the necessary public-private sector partnership that leads to the commercial development of cis-lunar (between the Earth and the Moon) space.  No other nation comes close to the US in the number of NewSpace entrepreneurs, or in providing the proper governmental regulatory environment that permits these entrepreneurs to thrive.

Want to have your choice of food on the Moon as long as that choice is Szechuan or Cantonese?  Keep believing NASA will get us back to the Moon quickly, if at all.  Hmmm... maybe Chinese astronauts should be called "Take-out-onauts" rather than Taikonauts!  And make that fried rice rather than steamed rice, please.