Reply #6: *sigh* and so it begins....

[harmonicon]

... even though the US has had far from the highest per capita GDP, quality healthcare, education, etc., we did often have the best, if only it could be afforded. I fear that this is just the beginning of a brain drain from our great universities. We've had a massive influx of the best researchers from around the world to these schools and institutes for decades. If the funding is cut, that will stop, and we are all the poorer for it.

It's only anecdotal evidence (and isn't as applicable, because I'm not in the sciences), but I moved to England last year to be a postgraduate researcher toward a Ph.d. There just weren't any schools in the US that seemed to have interesting departments, and/or couldn't provide me the funding to make it worth my while. I may not be an oddball in this respect if these things keep happening, to say nothing about the foreigners who would have come to the US.