By comparison, the NASA budget is $20 Billion.
The cost to give every child in America a free school lunch is $20 Billion.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is requesting less than $8 Billion this year.
The entire National Institute of Health (NIH) budget is $31 Billion.
The Environment Protection Agency responsible for assuring breathable air & safe water against every corporate interest is asking for less than $9 Billion this year.
The U.S. “Smart Grid” industry is worth $21 Billion.
Things like this really just blow my mind. Our world is getting more and more complex each year, and out voters are not being more and more sophisticated. And our electioneering systems are not doing anything to aid that either.
I am an optimist but if our nation sees significant decline ahead, I think it's in no small part due to the drag of our BS political cluster^^^^ in Washington DC.
As a great American once said, "Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man." The trouble to me is that we've got nobody minding the store. People support policies -- on both sides of the aisle -- that are obviously and objectively against their self interest because they buy into political advertising and dogma the same way they buy into I'm a Mac, I'm a PC.
I'm an optimist, but i see precious few problems being solved by those we the people hire to do our statecraft.
Et cetra.