What's this?

Sorry, couldn't help it.

The advantages of an elevator are that it can be powered by a renewable energy source and there are no rocket casings falling back to earth.  Any fuel that you take up into space on an elevator can be used outside the effects of atmospheric conditions where it is most effective.  More to the point, you can build up a stockpile of the stuff in space without burning rocket fuel to get it there.  When you come down the lift you don't have to worry about the heat of re-entry because the speed of descent is limited.

There are enormous challenges in building such a structure but if we want greater lift capacity all the time (which means it becomes increasingly cheaper to send things into space or bring them back) then it's the way to go.

This stuff is just going to get better and better with time. We are advanced enough for people to escape our gravity well for short periods of time, but this will improve too. I just wish I were young enough or rich enough to make the trip myself but we cannot turn back the hands of time (yet). I was interested in the concept of space elevators for a while and cannot wait for one to be constructed. Philip Ragan, co-author of the book "Leaving the Planet by Space Elevator", states that "The first country to deploy a space elevator will have a 95 percent cost advantage and could potentially control all space activities.” The current cost to escape earth’s gravity is well over $1,100 / pound which could be reduced to as little as $100 / pound with a functional elevator.

I would think a Space Escalator would have a better view.

Bah.  A Space Escalator will be shut down half the time with yellow cones at the bottom and a sign reading 'Maintenance In Progress.'

Good point but if you get stuck half way up or down, you can walk the rest of the way.

Yeah...it be's not far at all. Space elevator sits in a geosync orbit. Some of them go as high as twenty three thousand miles. Take a couple few days.

Considering the impending energy crisis that will soon force humanity to lower population numbers, scale down industrial activity and return to much simpler, less energy intensive lifestyle, I think most people will just have to use Space Stairs. 

And I thought the sixties were good to me!? Space Elevators!

Still better than a climbing rope!