So, we should spend $5B annually to have something that you think is "cool"? You sound really fiscally responsible.
yeah, but unlike Obama's stimulus, most of NASA's budget goes into paying salaries of skilled workers. The cost of materials for NASA is a trivial percentage of NASA's expense (not that they dont' spend a lot of money on hardware, its just that the hardware is expensive because of the number of highly skilled man-hours it takes to produce it). So a lot of the $5billion comes back to the government in the form of tax revenue.
And don't underestimate the value of coolness if it is promoted properly: NASA should also spend money (say $10M/year) on writing space shuttle/ISS simulation software that runs as a free online app with real-time data feeds so that schools could develop space simulation clubs for interested students...each school should be able to have its own fulltime "Space Camps". And with the free on-line app and prewritten program guides written by NASA, all a school would need are computers and internet access (which many already have). Kids should be allowed to log-on from home in order to follow a mission while school isn't in session.
There is so much potential leverage of existing expenditures that is wasted.
CUT WASTEFUL FEDERAL SPENDING!!
but not in my back yard, please....
