Ed Markey: “Mr. Chairman, in 1945, a visionary, Arthur C. Clarke, began this international space odyssey in writing an article which…”

“Mr. Chairman, in 1945, a visionary, Arthur C. Clarke, began this international space odyssey in writing an article which pointed out that by the positioning of satellites at a point over the Earth's equator, it would be possible to create an international telecommunications satellite-driven system for all the entire world. Now, this vision of Arthur C. Clarke was one that only really began to be implemented in 1962 with the creation of INTELSAT, a government-driven organization, necessarily because of the need for the missiles to shoot the satellites up and the government contracts to construct the satellites. However, as the years have gone by, it has become clear that private sector companies as well can compete in this marketplace, and there have been dozens of companies, many of them successful, which have begun the process of entering these marketplaces. And so now the test for American and international policymakers is to match the vision of Arthur C. Clarke with the philosophy of Adam Smith. That is roofless, Darwinian capitalism.”