Yes, the cuts in research are plain stupid. They may save money in the short term but will cost far more in the long term. It's like dropping out of college to save money and working minimum wage. Maybe you won't go into debt as much in the short term, but in the long term... Even a first grader can understand how stupid this is.

Which is why being the first or only child has some major drawbacks -- you are basically the crash test dummy. (Of course, being first/only has advantages too.)

Spoken as an only child and a parent. :)

Funding source is highly dependent on field. In CS and ECE, the majority, probably the vast majority, comes from the NSF, DoD, and DOE.

It may seem that research funded with public money should provide the technology for the greater good, but the Bayh-Dole Act allows U's to get patents. Regardless of whether you like this or not, one point in its favor is that it prevents a company from effectively "stealing" such ideas by getting their own patents on all the conceivable extensions of the university's research.