America set to decline in science investment

84HuskerLaw said:
Federal tax dollars which are expended in so-called research grants and aids and other pork barrel projects are simply wealth transfers as government takes from those who do invest and produce and give to those who seek funds to carry out an endless variety of studies and other so-called research projects but in general fail to produce anything of real economic value or worth.
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Here's just a few things that came from government-funded research:

  • atomic bomb
  • nuclear reactor
  • optical digital recording (all those CD's and DVD's)
  • fluorescent lights
  • communications and observation satellites
  • advanced batteries (every laptop and handheld device uses them)
  • modern water-purification techniques
  • supercomputers (which led to modern CPU's; we don't use them much, do we?)
  • more resilient passenger jets
  • better cancer therapies
P.S. The preceding list was just for the Department of Energy. I'll let you go look up how the backbone of the internet was funded, or what the Apollo Program led to, or how the biotech industry is largely based on the Human Genome Project.

 
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Who's going to fund keeping the water clean and the land not polluted? There isn't a lot of profit in that if the government removes all laws. We just become a worse trash heap. Nobody is going to spend $ on that if not the government. There is no profit except our health.

 
Bush-era NIH chief: cuts to NIH spending 'catastrophic': https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2017/03/16/trump-nih-cuts-would-be-catastrophic-event-says-bush-era-nih-chief/#6077ac58789c

Scientists brace for a lost generation in American Research: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/trump-budget-cuts-science/519825/

“Put simply, privatization will mean that more ‘sexy,’ ‘hot’ science will be funded, and we will miss important discoveries since most breakthroughs are based on years and decades of baby steps,” said Kelly Cosgrove, an associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University. “The hare will win, the tortoise will lose, and America will not be scientifically great.”

The proposed NIH cuts “would bring American biomedical science to a halt and forever shut out a generation of young scientists,” said Peter Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “It would take a decade for us to recover and move the world's center of science to [...]* China, Germany, and Singapore, where investments are now robust."
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We've all been able to boast about America's leadership in world-class research institutions. Don't take it for granted. It's not as if the rest of the world isn't or won't try.

*grammar errors in the article. It should be from the US, not to the US where it is already currently.

 
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I am actually surprised that most people posting in this thread are surprised this is happening.

I've stated before, and in different threads, that Republicans are ostensibly trying to get rid of all science altogether.

They don't want science taught in schools. They want the bible taught in schools. It's part of the "Republican Utopia."

 
Making Chimichangas said:
I am actually surprised that most people posting in this thread are surprised this is happening.

I've stated before, and in different threads, that Republicans are ostensibly trying to get rid of all science altogether.

They don't want science taught in schools. They want the bible taught in schools. It's part of the "Republican Utopia."
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I'm mostly surprised they're actually doing it. In the past it's mostly been empty campaign promises and some cuts around the edges.
 
Genuine advocates for limited government spending and science deniers make for natural bedfellows. Throw in corporate interests that don't want environmental regulations and religiously-motivated forces that want the state to promote their church.

The compromises we make to our own values when it means getting along with political allies...

 
RedDenver said:
Making Chimichangas said:
I am actually surprised that most people posting in this thread are surprised this is happening.

I've stated before, and in different threads, that Republicans are ostensibly trying to get rid of all science altogether.

They don't want science taught in schools. They want the bible taught in schools. It's part of the "Republican Utopia."
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I'm mostly surprised they're actually doing it. In the past it's mostly been empty campaign promises and some cuts around the edges
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The difference between then and now is, Republicans have majorities in both houses of congress and a president who will rubber stamp whatever legislation they want. Democrats don't have the numbers to block anything on their own.

Republicans want:

  • No regulations on business
  • Businesses to be able to pollute the environment
  • Corporate greed unchecked
  • Them to receive kick backs for de-regulating everything

What we're seeing right now out of the Republicans is essentially porn for the Koch brothers to jerk off to.

 
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