Billions to discover if Life ever existed.

by shotgun 17 Replies latest social current

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  shotgun

  Billions of dollars are being spent to determine if life ever existed on Mars, while life on various parts of the earth fades away at an alarming rate.

  It always annoys me how much taxpayer money is used on crazy or useless things while at the same time many organizations try to sqeeze the average Joe for more money just to help the poor and the homeless.

  Taxpayer money at work

  A NASA budget chart suggested that Bush's "exploration missions" and accompanying programs would cost between $125 billion and $170 billion by 2020 — and that's before any talk of landing people on Mars. The expenditures for 2004 alone are 570 million

  WHO stats

  The World Health Organization estimates that 40,000 children under the age of five die every day from hunger and hunger related causes. Feeding Link for KIDS is committed in establishing " feeding centers" where nutritious food is provided to malnourished and starving children each and every day.

  Cost to feed a child

  Feeding Link For K I D S is committed to eradicating hunger among the children of the world by providing a specially formulated and fully nutritious meal. A team of scientists from leading food production companies including Cargill, Pillsbury, General Mills and Archer Daniels Midland collaborated to develop a fortified meal to rescue malnourished and starving children. For 23 cents, a child can have one fortified protein packed meal each day.

  Just using the 570 million figure and the 23 cents per meal number means you could feed 2,263,251 children three meals a day for a whole year. Not only that, but use other wasted money to implement agricultural remedies.

  I'm sure you know of some biggie taxpayer wastes, British Columbia..450 million for three fast ferries...bad design..sold for 40 million and were never used. Canada 1 billion for gun registry, while I agree with gun control criminals never register guns or use hunting rifles.
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  Sunnygal41

  Shotgun, I know exactly what you are saying! I was discussing, in another thread, my very strong feelings of going to the moon and raping it's resources, and also Mars. I was trying to highlight the greed and destructiveness of these big companies, and yes, Bush, in encouraging this type of behavior, but I didn't bring it out like you did. I hope some of the other posters that got on my case come over here and read your thread!

  Terri
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  got my forty homey?

  Jesus did say that we will always have poor people. After you go through the 570 million dollars then what?

  I think its more important to spend billions to take pictures of a rocky lifeless landscape! By the way, dont those pictures look tile the post apocolyptic world of the Road Warrior?
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  shotgun

  Don't forget those cool martian rover vehicles.
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  Gerard

  Me hat off to shutgun...
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  SpunkyChick

  I agree that we should invest our money on EARTH and our EARTHY economy. Grrrr.
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  freeman

  Shotgun,

  While I do agree governments seem exceptionally gifted at wasting large amounts of their peoples treasure, I do however also believe that the pursuit of knowledge in the form of space exploration is hardly a foolhardy endeavor. I?ll be quite open and candid with you, I?m not exactly unbiased when it comes to matters concerning NASA; I have in fact received many thousands of dollars from them during my tenure as a consultant and engineer. Of course that was years ago and I don?t own my living to them anymore. That aside, I believe that money spent on the space program is money well spent, even from a pragmatic perspective. I understand your passions and that you would like to see this money spent in what you would consider more practical ways, i.e. putting food in hungry children?s stomachs and curing their diseases. Perhaps you are unaware that the technologies developed because of the space program are in fact helping the world grow greater quantities of food and more efficiently (global mapping) and that maladies such as cancer are being detected much earlier while the disease is still treatable (non-invasive MRI body scanner).

  I?ll bet most people are unaware that for the first time in their lives, several poor remote villages now have non-polluting solar powered refrigeration and phone service. Once again, this is thanks to NASA and the space program. In fact speaking of refrigeration, within the next few years you will probably see the efficiency of all new home refrigerators go up about 6 - 8% due to a NASA developed technology being incorporated. If my math is correct, that should equate to about a barrel and a half of oil per year / per refrigerator and a savings of about 48 dollars on your electric bill. Multiply that times the millions of refrigerators sold and we are talking about a reduction of oil consumption equaling millions of barrels and a savings of millions to billions of dollars on electricity.

  If you would like to start saving money and oil now by incorporating this NASA technology into your existing refrigerator or freezer you can buy an add on device for about $25.00 at stores like home depot etc. Sorry I don?t have a brand name for you to shop for but often they are called ?green plugs?. Technically it is a motor power factor controller. They are very easy to install, all you need to do is buy the device, plug it into your electric outlet, and then plug your refrigerator into the device. The savings start immediately and if you live in an area with high electric rates (such as I do), the device will pay for itself in about 6 months or so and continue to save you money for years and years to come.

  Again as I stated earlier, I?m not exactly unbiased when it comes to NASA or the space program in general. I admit it, I am a huge fan, and have been since I was just a kid, but at the same time I am also very much aware of the many practical contributions the space program has made to improving life on this planet for everyone.

  Freeman
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  RunningMan

  I hate to quote Jebus, but as has been mentioned, the poor will always be with us.

  If every cent of public money was spent on alleviating suffering on earth, we would still have suffering.

  The persuit of pure knowledge is an important part of being human, and it can also be an investment in the future. Advancing the bounds of knowledge and innovation can work toward improving quality of life.

  The amount of money that is spent in various avenues is rightly debatable, but if we cancel all scientific spending, and put it toward poverty, we will continue to end up with poverty, minus the scientific advances. The advance of knowledge has reduced more human suffering than any amount of direct funding could ever do.
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  shotgun

  I'm all for technology and the benefits of taxation. I do not see the relevancy of wether there was life on Mars or not and can't stand to see Governments throw money away on ill conceived projects like the Fast ferry one in BC.

  In reality I guess as individuals we make bad investments and often throw money away by making mistakes sometimes more than once, so Governments are no different, they just have more money to play with.
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  heathen

  I agree that if we spent more of the money that is taken for sace exploration into saving the environment and reducing pollution that it would be good money spent . I cringe everytime I hear of these oil tanker disasters and blatant attacks on the environment ( such as what sadaam did in the gulf war). I think the space program is just as guilty for the ozone problems we have and don't think they will make many more huge advances . I am facinated by the universe but think we have enough stuff exploring it . I really don't see how the US can take all the responsiblity for the poor ecconomic situation in other countries , the only thing the government is responsible for are the US citizens . IMO. I do really hate it when these televangelists show pictures of starving people and knowing full well none of them would sacrifice their life of luxuary to save a starving kid.