Tidbits of news, depressing enough on their own and adding up to a bigger picture.
- The James Webb Space Telescope, having gone so far over budget that large swathes of NASA’s science program has been shelved to make room for it, is now in danger of being cancelled.
- Everyone knows that education is of paramount importance, especially for economically disadvantaged kids. Therefore, communities across the country are — cutting back on school time, especially for economically disadvantaged kids.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon — the climactic conclusion to auteur Michael Bay’s explosive trilogy of awesome explodyness — grossed over $116 million over the holiday weekend.
On the other hand, Google+ was launched. So it’s not all bad.
The Department of Defense spends more on air condition in Afghanistan than is allocated for the entire NASA budget. The NASA budget is larger than that of the National Science Foundation. After that, we’re talking really small sums of money that do real science work. There are others that get large amounts of money, but their budgets are devoted mostly to the final work (late development work only) just before implementation and that isn’t doing science.
Any project going BILLIONS overbudget is a disaster of epic proportions and should be scrapped ASAP.
And it’s certainly not politicians (the scum that they are) who should be blamed for this epic failure but the managers at nasa who made promises they knew they weren’t going to keep just to get the money for their project.
They scammed the astronomy community and the general public out of billions of dollars for which they should be jailed for life if not executed, they are no better then Bernie Madoff.
Of course every special interest group thinks their little slice of the budget is different.
The scale of the budget cuts that are needed to save the country are so vast — even if we end the wars today — that nothing will be safe. If they are going to be cutting Medicare and other popular middle class entitlements, do you think any branch of science is going to be spared?
The Hubble Space Telescope was over-budget. Should we have scrapped it?
No Pillars of Creation? (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070218.html) No deep surveys of of galaxies at the edge of the observable universe? (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091209.html) Just darkness and ignorance?
No doubt Google and Facebook are investing in science, primarily Computer Science. As much as I love space sciences, NASAs best days are behind it. When I was a kid, I’d hoped we’d by on Mars by now (and am still disappointed.) However, just because NASA is in decline doesn’t mean science is in decline. Modern technology is amazing.
War, JWST, etc are boondoggles of mal-investment created by politicians and bureaucrats spending other people’s money. While the private sector may not have the practical need to invest in deep space observation, it will invest in science that can be put to work for our benefit. Publicly funded science is tainted by the politics needed to get funding. Get government out of the way, and the more practical sciences will proliferate. As for the less practical stuff, put your time & money where your mouth is by donating it to your special interest.
Using the force of government to force us to give to your special interest is no different than stealing other people’s property at gun point. Just because “the majority” voted for it doesn’t mean it isn’t robbery.
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I think part of the problem with these projects going over-budget (same could be said of the SSC) is that the original budget forecasts were absurdly optimistic. Mismanagement and other forms of waste of course play a role, but one has to wonder what the mood would be like today if the original estimates had been more realistic. At any rate, killing the JWST at this stage in the game would be pure folly.
I’m disturbed by the people who think NASA is “scamming” or “robbing” or any other absurd mischaracterization. Even more disturbed by those who say the gov’t shouldn’t be funding basic science, and that private investment in “practical science” is the solution. Please, go read some history and tell us how obvious it was which research would turn into practical applications; things like the world wide web have (indirectly) come out of basic physics research. It’s almost entirely unpredictable what will turn into a practical application, and what will not.
This line is pure idiocy: “Just because “the majority” voted for it doesn’t mean it isn’t robbery.” Yes in fact, when the majority votes to use tax dollars for something, it is perfectly legal and the exact opposite of robbery.
“It’s almost entirely unpredictable what will turn into a practical application, and what will not.” … Which is why government shouldn’t be spending public funds on such projects, particularly when the investment decision is based on politics. Should the JWST be abandoned, that’s public money, taken from us by force, that has been wasted. Investment by the private sector, however, is voluntary. The only reason Apollo was a success is that we had an “enemy” to compete with. Same with the Manhattan project.
Do you still yearn for the good ole’ days of the cold war?
Lots of misdeeds have been considered legal in different regimes, that doesn’t mean they are right. As student of history, you’ll certainly recall that we had a revolution in this country about that issue. Even when a majority approves, there is a minority that is forced to comply, right or wrong. Quite often, you and I will be in the minority (perhaps on different issues.)
Science and Art will happen without freckless federal funding. Now ? who will pay to clean up all the garbage abandoned in space and the plastics in the oceans from the past 50 years of science and economic transformation? Part of being a *good* Scientist or Artist is cleaning up after your self. We have been slow-dancing with no adults in the room for too long.
I was waiting for the specious “brain drain” argument. Money spent on any one project cannot go to another. More projects go unfunded than are funded.
The SCSC is a good example. We didn’t build it, now we have the LHC. No shortage of particle physicists. But the JWST is somehow different?
@34
In fact I do yearn for those good old days of cold war, or perhaps a new one. The amusing fact about our species, which peaceniks don’t seem to appreciate, is that our greatest progress comes through strife and struggle, not through peace. Peace is stagnation; war is progress. So I say start another war, ramp up the new space race, fight for the moon and mars, build the Terran Empire, and gaze in wonder at what our clever, evil species is capable of!
@37 – War is a competition for survival, which creates a laser-like focus for those fighting to survive. The corner stone of free markets is also competition, but without the nukes. I’ll take free markets.
Well, America is officially part of the third world.
Speaking as someone who worked to pay my own way through university, I’m sure glad that (at the time in the early 90s) it was still barely possible. Given the current situation, I doubt that I could have done it or would have bothered to try. (Thank you socialism, we will miss you.)
Free market is rather like evolution. Those who really understand either do their best to not participate.
Is it possible fo the already constructed portions to be utilized by another government/entity?
Guess it’s good that I moved to Europe. :/
On a related note, at least there are fewer idiots who think every government program aside from military needs to be cut rather than continue to keep upper bracket taxes at a level that’s still lower than anywhere else in the world.
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