People Are Morons 

Let me just say: People are morons.
And the media does little to help.
I'm doing my daily space reading, when I see an article posted on, natch, SpaceDaily (though originating from AFP news service) saying that "Three-fifths of Americans oppose Bush's mission to moon, Mars" (possibly because they missed that last comma).
I'd be curious, though, what they asked, in that the article says "his plan to spend billions of dollars to manned mission to the moon and eventually to Mars drew opposition from 61 percent ..."(sic)
So does that mean they asked, "Should the president spend billions to send a manned mission to the Moon and Mars?" I would imagine that doing that would give you very different results than asking, "Would you support a 1 percent annual increase in the NASA budget if it would mean sending returning men to the Moon instead of remaining in Earth orbit?"
I get tired of hearing about how many billions of dollars this project is going to cost absent any sort of context.
Anyway, on the important bit about people being morons.
"Some 40 percent they would rather improve education, 27 percent would balance the federal budget, and 13 percent would clean up the environment."
Let's put this in some perspective here.
The proposed increase for NASA's budget for next year is $200 million.
As I stated earlier, this is an increase of a little over 1 percent of NASA's most recent budget of about $15 billion.
The Department of Education budget passed in August for the current fiscal year is $55.4 billion. The proposed NASA increase is a little over a one-third of one-percent of that. Would that make a big difference in improving education? Well, the Education Department budget in 2001 was $39.9 billion, meaning that it's seen an increase of $15.5 billion in 3 years. Again, let's put that in perspective--In the last 3 years, the federal Education Department has had a budget increase greater than THE ENTIRE NASA BUDGET. And, keep in mind, this is just federal education spending, and that most education spending comes from state and local moneys. So, again, how much improvement of education is another $200 million going to bring about? Greater than the benefits of reinvigorating spaceflight? I'm biased here, but to me, you stand to gain more by showing a new generation of kids that science and math can be cool, by doing something exciting again.
The federal budget for natural resources and environment is $30.4 billion for FY 2004. The proposed NASA increase would represent two-thirds of 1 percent of this. In comparison, in actuality, environmental funding for FY 2004 is up $1 billion over FY 2003--a 1 year increase equal to the amount Bush is proposing NASA's budget be increased over the next 5 years.
So the question is not whether federal spending on these areas should increase--it already is. I see no reason why NASA shouldn't be allowed a small increase also.
Of course, my personal favorite is the 27 percent that would balance the federal budget, which, as we all well know, is only $200 million off, right? That's how the deficit increased by about $216 billion from 2002 to 2003. You could eliminate the entire NASA budget, and it would have left the federal budget for that year another $359 billion shy of being balanced. I also like the version of this that I've seen elsewhere--that instead of giving NASA the increase to go to the Moon, we should use that money to repay the national debt. Even with a balanced budget, repaying the debt with the $200 million the president has proposed to give NASA next year would take over 35,000 years. Now, I realize that the president's proposal would amount to a much greater increase than $200 million over the next 20 years, but even at the real rate, the extra NASA funding wouldn't eliminate the debt in our lifetimes. Or our childrens'. Or our grandchildrens'. Or our great-grandchildrens'. Or our great-great-... well, you get the idea.
I'm all for more responsible government spending, but looking to change education, the environment, or the federal budget with the extra pocket change being given to NASA is like trying to reroute the Mississippi River by bailing it with a bucket.

:: :: 10:06 :: David :: [permalink] ::