SharkJumping

As was announced everywhere earlier this week, the Google founders & CEO have struck a $1.3M deal with NASA to park their corporate jets at Moffet Federal Air Field, a pristine gov't airfield 2 miles from Google headquarters - see NYT article here, and exact locations -

This is no longer news.  What's astonishing about it is the amount of jealousy that it has triggered among what I call the "geekerati" of Silicon Valley, especially the wealthy venture capitalists who work just a few miles away on Sand Hill Road.  It was one thing when the G founders bought at 767 - that just showed they had more money than anyone else, which may be obnoxious, given the "Do No Evil" mantra (imagine the Terra Pass carbon offset required), but that was just cash, like any other random sheik from the UAE could do. 

What's causing waves here is that this deal is about INFLUENCE, and not cash since no one else could even get this deal done.  It may be that Google has pillaged AMES for a series of employees and discussed building a campus there, but this was the first known instance of the founders getting absolutely preferential treatment in this manner - thus the Valley jealousy and incredible banter about it.

So why the absurdity title?  Here is the big issue.  We all know that Moffet is the most desired real estate in the entire Valley, and that landing rights are insanely valuable, not just from a time perspective (longer runway than SFO, few other planes), but more importantly, from a bragging right perspective.  There are at least 100 people in the Valley who simply have too much money to spend in their lifetime - since most of them have private planes, why doesn't the government open up the bidding on a limited number of slots at AMES? 

Does anyone realistically think that Larry Ellison, Jim Clark, or any random very wealthy Benchmark or Accel partner wouldn't bid more than $1.3M to park their jets there?  I have no doubts that 20 wealthy folk would pony up $5M each per year to park their jets, brag to their friends, and show off to their mistresses - that's $100M a year, far better than the lousy payment NASA is getting now.  So why does the Google gang get this deal?  I love the chutzpah personally, but as a US tax payer, it strikes me like so many other no-bid deals one finds in 3rd world countries, or wherever Halliburton is bidding in the US - let's open it up to a true free market rather than favor one player.