"to the point they're useful"
Are you trying to say that Earth observation satellites are NOT useful?
There is a well-developed commercial market in Earth observation, obtaining and selling images to willing buyers at a free marke price. The product and the market are mature and immensely useful:-
Land use monitoring for agriculture
Accurate geospatial positioning and cartography at large-scale
Weather monitoring - where the hell would the citizens of N'Orleans have been without weather sattelites? Evacuate the city on 12 hours warning?
There are dozens of other uses, which refute your off-the cuff dismissal of the technology.
If you want to debate, sharpen your wits...