On Sending Our Cash to Outer Space

On Sending Our Cash to Outer Space 02/09/2009

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
- Calvin (from "The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes)

* * *

OK, it's good to note that no government funds are currently going toward SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence), a project housed at the giant skyward pointing radio dish in Puerto Rico. But I wanted to put this Calvin and Hobbes quote up there because it pertains to space exploration and our interest in the skies.

Look, I love NASA.
I like watching shuttles take off here in Florida.
I'm glad that we have an astronaut program.

But I wish we'd stop spending money on it. I don't really think that we need to be funneling our national resources into shuttle launches and space races when we're in the middle of a financial crisis, multiple wars, infrastructure problems, and political corruption scandals that are leaving our country on the edge of bankruptcy.

I don't want the NASA guys to be out of work or anything, but I'm pretty sure the private sector should be the ones funding space exploration rather than the US government. I mean really- other than sending missiles into space for national defense purposes, there's not much that we can do up there that qualifies as a rational Federal Expenses. It's science experiments. It's peering into the wide open spaces of the universe to discover if there is some sort of life form out there.

It's science.

And though I don't want to slow science- since when is it the government's responsibility to fund science? Especially when there are other bills to pay.

Washington?
Please axe the space program. For now anyway.

Comments

Gabe

02/09/2009 09:16

I hate the Space program. I believe that its like owning a Bentley. Its just a way to show off how much money you have. When you don't have money you shouldn't spend it. I'm not going to go buy Bentley if I don't have the money. Personally the space program has given me nothing other than a cool pillow and a pen I can use underwater, not worth the 2 billion dollar launch cost to me. I honestly think it’s a huge waste of money. I understand the industry aspect with satellites and all with cell phones, but scientific research in space I think is worthless. Finding out if there is life on Mars or if Mars at one point could sustain life is all good, but it should not be a priority. It’s way too much money to spend of speculation.

the gipper

02/09/2009 15:07

Think of how many private industry jobs would be lost if there were no space program. I'll just say A LOT. And the space program has done more than an under water pen. Tons of engineering advancements that eventually go into common household items, new materials, etc... its important to an advancing nation. The money it costs makes it out to engineers, machinists, lots of different companies to make it all happen.

Nathan link

02/09/2009 17:36

There are plenty of other organizations who have added value to the world and our lives- but again- I DON'T think that we should be using Federal Funds to perpetuate them.

Please keep in mind, I'm not simply against government funded space exploration- I'm also against corporate bailouts, social security, the department of education, nation building, farm subsidies, and a lot of other "government" programs that aren't within my own idea of what "governing" is. Governments are suppose to govern- that doesn't mean they are supposed to raise money for science and engineering programs, no matter how much good may come from them.

Doing GOOD does not necessitate an obligation to fund.

But all that aside- when there's a terribly large national debt and we're barely hanging on by printing more money and borrowing the rest from China- eventually you have to cut something. And like it or not... the space program isn't a necessity.

It's a really great thing.

And there are some who probably feel passionately enough about it that they'd be willing to dump money into it privately to keep it afloat (and I applaud them).

Nathan link

02/09/2009 17:38

Also, Let's be Clear: I'm NOT against the space program, social security, education, nation building, and foreign aid... I just don't approve of our Federal Funds being used to perpetuate them.

Gabe

02/09/2009 18:10

Gipper, you make a good point. But I guess I should have been more specific. I specifically consider launching shuttles is a waste of money. I hardly find the jobs it provides worth the 2 billion dollar launch sequence. How many of those household products required a space launch to create? Nasa does a ton of great things right here on earth, a lot of the research goes on right here in Florida and knowing how those chemicals act in space do what for us? I personally think going to space is a waste, I'm not saying to shut down Nasa, I am saying, use it more efficiently.

John Kepler Lewis

02/09/2009 19:29

Mr. Key-

I respectfully call shenanigans on your supposition that we should axe (or ax? Is 'ax' technically a verb and 'axe' technically a noun? I must brush up on my World of Warcraft...) the space program from being government funded. There are many more evils that should be reformed before the space program.

Human kind, Americans included, does benefit from the scientific advances gained from the space program. However, the space exploration and experimentation facet of the space industry cannot, or will not thrive in the private sector. NASA, or whomever takes over their infrastructure will still launch rockets, (we need our GPS and Satellite TV, after all) they will still research propulsion techniques to sell to other industries, among other things.

Are you to say that we should eliminate research grants out of the federal budget completely and utterly? If not, why focus on the space industry.

Honestly, I'm a small government kind of guy, but scientific research is one of the few things that I can agree with my tax dollars going to. We over fund just about everything else, social security, education, half a million dollars to re-sod the national mall in DC...

Why cut space out of it? There's much more fat that could be trimmed that doesn't provide as much benefit to humanity.

In this "crisis" as the alarmists are calling it, why haven't we tried lowering taxes, capital gains, property taxes, or anything else that would put more money in the economy to spend? Plus the government would have more revenue (thank you, mr. laffer curve) for the transition to the "lower-fat" budget. This would work better in practice instead of these utopian Keynsian philosophies that have never worked in the real world.

Call off the marines, we're comin home!

Nathan Key

Husband, Father, Thinker.

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