50 Years of NASA's budget vs. 1 year of Pentagon spending

[LongTomH]

From The Sagan Series Facebook page

[niyad]

1. k and r--that is just sickening

[AlGoreRhythms]

2. This makes me want to cry.

[Warpy]

3. We desperately need to get that military monkey off our backs.

The huge amount of resources skimmed off the top by the Pentagon is why we have no national health care, why our infrastructure is crumbling, and why the quality of life for most citizens has been declining for so many years.

As the WWII generation slowly fades away, perhaps we'll be able to tame the beast. That was the generation that saw the country caught flatfooted by the Japanese, so that was the generation for whom no amount of money given to the military was ever enough.

Taming the beast means redefining its mission as one of defense, not empire. I sincerely hope we are able to do so, our survival depends upon it.

[xtraxritical]

16. 75% of the DoD budget is for golf courses and vacation destinations. Welfare queens indeed.

[SaveAmerica]

22. Which vacation destinations? You mean conventions to

vacation areas and such?

[xtraxritical]

23. All overseas bases are vacation destinations.

[unhappycamper]

24. My Vietnam vacation sucked donkey balls. n/t

[unhappycamper]

25. As did my 1970 Cambodia vacation.....

[Iggy]

26. Correct.. WHEN is Obama Going to Start Talking About

our bloated defense budget??

does the above graph include the BILLIONS/bribes we're throwing at disaster nations like Pakistan-- so they will "remain our side on the war on terra"?? or the Billions we are giving Israel?

FAIL.

[phantom power]

4. I wish graphs like this could compete better with innumeracy.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

5. We need to rethink our priorities.

obviously.

[2on2u]

8. If only various groups motives were to NOT promote their expansion and profits (MIC)

[ROBROX]

6. THE GOP LOVES WAR AND HATE

The GOP does not like to explore anything which would be PROGRESSIVE like exploring outer space. It is much more easier to use less cognitive processes that cro magnums would utilize to gather attention. We will only get past the GOp practice of wasting money when they become a third party group with their primitive herd.

Our future has been wasted by the far rights diversion of trillions of dollars to feed their basic insecurity complex with getting along with others.

[CrispyQ]

7. Someone posted this a few weeks ago.

It's just under 4 minutes & should be required viewing by every American. The graphics are fantastic, the statistics are sickening.

What Eats Up 53 Cents Of Every Tax Dollar?

[valerief]

11. Great clip. nt

[xtraxritical]

17. "The most enormous war machine the world has ever known" and we have not won a war since WWII.

[valerief]

9. Ever'one knows thet most o' ther tax revenue goes to NPR. nt

[2on2u]

10. If bearded ME men came from Pluto you gotta know we'd be there with bells on. n't

[meeshrox]

12. Just liked that FB group

Thank you for posting this. I severely miss Carl's influence in the country/world.

[Crowman1979]

13. If NASA had the DoD's budget, we would have manned space missions on other solar systems by now.

[Diclotican]

14. Crowman1979

Crowman1979

Or at least a decent manned space program, with colonies (maybe not the big ones, but still, colonies) at the Moon, and maybe even at Mars... And I suspect the space program, would have made for some better space veicheles than we today have... Maybe even gotten a decent Space Orbiter, who full fill the job far better than the old Space Shuttle ever would have been dreaming on..

After all, I doubt we will have any less need of a space shuttle, or at least a far more advanced orbiter the next 20 or so years - as the ISS is just the start for adventures into the stars - and for making that happening, we need a orbiter who is far more advanced and can do more than the current ideas give us.. The only space vessel who might could do the trick was the Space Shuttle - and that is retired and will never fly again..

What "we" as in the human race need, is a NG version of the space shuttle - a far more secure, more advanced, with all the necessary bang and vessels - with the knowledge about orbiters that NASA have gained over the last 30 or so years with the Space Shuttle.. After all, no other agency have the same knowledge how to work the Space Shuttle, and therefore might also can give advices how to make a far safer and more advanced one - with all the new and advances allows out there, it should be able to at least try to make a safer shuttle than we had today... And it might also cost less, even thought that would be a dream...

Diclotican

[xtraxritical]

18. I say use the money on infrastructure and education, space exploration is welfare for the MIC.

[The Traveler]

19. I remember reading back in the day ...

This was around 1980 or so. A Washington Post article. The government had stopped tracking the "return on investment" of Apollo dollars, because the investment had become so integrated into the American economy that it was no longer practical to measure it. The last published estimate was (if I recall correctly ... this was over 30 years ago) was $7.00 in growth for each $1.00 spent.

Of course, the IBM PC came out shortly after this article was published and that sealed the deal ... the Microprocessor was here to stay. And prior to Apollo, there was no real market pressure to advance integrated circuit technology, fast computer networking and real time software processing technique. In a very real sense, we are having this very conversation because of Apollo. Who could have imagined that in 1964 when the requirements for Apollo's RTOS and onboard computers were defined?

I further note that the realization of human triggered climate change has (at least in large part) its origins in the results Viking lander missions. Designing those experiments, and conducting them, caused scientists to consider atmospheres from an entirely different perspective. I refer you to the writings of Lovelock and Sagan for some good coverage of that subject, if that sort of thing is of interest to you. I find it fascinating stuff.

I submit that if that is "welfare", we need more of it.

I think posing the matter as a choice between a space program (and other R&D efforts) and infrastructure and education is a false choice indeed. What do you propose? Rebuilding an infrastructure based on the best of 1950's technology (e.g. the interstate superhighway)? Or would it be better to invent and develop a more modern technology base? One that screws up the planet less would be nice ...

To me, it is clear we need to scale back the war machine and use those savings to invest in the American people, and a technology base that will sustain them in the future. Planning for that future must include a better understanding of the implications of climate change and the ongoing collapse of ecosystems, particularly ocean ecosystems. In my view, we need lots more R&D ... not less.

Trav

[AnotherMcIntosh]

15. And while we're discussing priorities, this may be of interest:

[Johonny]

20. of course a part of that defense budget is military space program

which pays for our launch sites, Delta IV, Atlas V and all our many other launchers and satellites. That GPS you use around town etc... It isn't an either as the graphic implies NASA, private industry and the military have been partners in the USA space program for as long as there has been a space program.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Does not count interest on previous wars, and a bunch of other national security related stuff.

Actual yearly spend is approx. 1.3tn on all national security related items.

[Plucketeer]

27. Graph grappling

Take a look at that graph! This is but one more indicator of a nation stumbling towards disaster.
The USA had a minuscule armed force prior to WWII, yet we thrashed the aggressors in only four years (and we STILL have bases in their countries - I might add!). In 2001 - in spite of us having THE most powerful military in the Solar System, we took a big hit AND the ensuing wars are STILL going on 11 years later.

We're now throwing SIXTY PERCENT of our annual outlay to keep this war machine intimidating, and to what end? Every time a North Korean farts, someone in CentCom makes note of it and we remind the No. Koreans that we have the power to reduce them to ashes - never mind what the fallout would do to the rest of us.
Today there are Super-Bugs (germs) that can laugh at the aging arsenal of anti-biotics we have at hand, but we can intimidate the No. Koreans into not farting. When the hell is this country gonna come to it's senses???

[YOHABLO]

28. And An Awful Lot Of Money Is Price Gouging And Waste ..

[Kolesar]

29. NASA's budget is gravy for the military contractors

Programs like deep space probes make sense, but that manned mission to Mars was just waste at taxpayers' expense.