Re:NASA = Murder (Score 2)

NASA, my friend, is an example of a government program that is doing this country a FAVOR on multiple levels. First and foremost, the science that NASA's programs have returned over the last thirty years have expanded our understanding of the world and universe around us more than you probably even realize. Since there is no equivalent private organization with launch and science research capabillities, we'd still be in the cosmological dark ages without a space program. To answer your socio-political attack of NASA: Yes, I agree that there are millions of people on this little world of ours who are starving. And yes, I realize that the obvious solution is to pull the plug on the space program and spend that money to feed the less fortunate. But think about this: NASA's programs create a LOT of jobs, that in turn create many other jobs! In addition, NASA projects tend to turn out new technologies that trickle down into public life. So the quesiton becomes this...do we: A) Take $14.5B/year and just give it away to the poor? -or- B) Run a space program that creates jobs (that in turn creates other jobs...more engineers means more managers, means more secretaries, means increased sales of raw materials and office supplies, means increased sales of of other products through trickle down from NASA to corporate to employee to salesperson that employee buys from), generates lots of useful products as a side effect of its existence, inspires schoolchildren to excel in math and science, AND expands our knowledge of the universe? I think the choice is obvious.