Do you think the US should reduce the NASA budget and allocate funds to a better cause?

Question

Do you think the US should reduce the NASA budget and allocate funds to a better cause?

Answer 1

With a senseless military spending of 3 billion a day, more then the entire rest of the world combined, any other budget then military has no impact.

We are currently paying 600 Billion annually for the Pentagon - useless lawyers, generals, admirals, a gigantic useless bureaucracy and another 600 Billion for the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, getting now where.

NASA is just another arm of the military. If we don't start cutting down our military soon, we will go of the way of all superpowers, who started one day solving every problem with weapons.

98% of Nasa projects have military involvment

Answer 2

"Nasa is just another arm of the military" -- That statement from one of the other posters doesn't even make sense.

Anyway, NASA's budget is roughly 0.7% of the total US budget. NASA's budget during the Apollo program was roughly 3.0% of the total budget. Currently, DOD's (the Defense Department's) budget is in the range of 20%-25% of the total US budget.

If NASA was abolished and it's budget returned to the American public, then everyone in the US would get ~$50. NASA is not this large "cash cow" of the US government that the public has the impression it is. In contrast, the total revenue for Starbuck's during this most recent quarter is $2.5 billion or $10 billion per year. We spend 2/3 of NASA's budget each year just buying latte's at Starbucks.

"allocate funds to a better cause" -- first of all, a lot of NASA's science budget goes for Earth sensing missions to help scientist better understand what's happening here on Earth. But, NASA's paltry budget isn't big enough to even make a dent in infrastructure upgrades, pollution clean ups, or to push alternative fuels development.

Answer 3

NASA has been the golden haired child of about every administration since Kennedy.  This despite their repeated s***w ups and waisting of billions and billions.  That is not to say that they have not had some successes.  They have.  Actually though the budget that would better be reduced is the defense budget. What a waste that is.  NASA budget is 16.2 billion.  Defense is 429.6 billion or about 1/2 the total budget. That does not include the other 229 billion that is spent on security.   Our government has very little idea of what actually makes for a secure country.  Their idea of security is more fancy billion dollar fighter planes and multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers while the education system goes to h**l.

There are certainly other items that the money could be better spent on.  No doubt about it, but our government is so inept that is it extremely doubtful that it would get spent on better causes.  More likely it would be spent to build more bridges to nowhere.

Answer 4

That depends on where you are bringing this argument.  It would be tough to argue that we shouldn't use the money to feed starving people, but the money that has been invested in NASA in past has led to life and world changing inventions (plastics, synthetic fibers) - which have created massive wealth in the private sector.  Although one common misconception is that our space program invented velcro, which we didn't - it was invented in 1940's France (velcro is actually the combination of two french words... velour and crochet).

A healthy and pioneering NASA also maintains our nations braintrust and ensures that the brightest minds want to come here to study...as opposed to say...China.  Americans like to be #1 and this is one of the last places that we remain #1.

On a dollar for dollar basis, investing in NASA pays off huge in many ways, although over time.  In the face of a humanitarian argument, it is easy to argue against.