Today's Q - NASA funding good or bad? Spend more, spend less, change mission?
Short answer is: They must die!
What I mean is that all programs should have end dates. NASA was a good idea, Social Security, whatever. They may have served a purpose. But the purpose of any bureaucracy is to grow. Doesn't matter if it is needed or not. Bureaucracy never dies or trims itself. They will always provide convincing evidence of their current value and future need So you must purposefully kill them. If you give a capitalist a goal he will achieve it, if he can make money, if there is a future payoff. If you say to NASA, launch 3 more satellites - and then we don't need you, (go to Boeing, Space Ship One instead or something) than the satellites would never get launched. NASA would never finish and self-destruct.
Taxes and programs never go away. remember the story a few years ago when they decided to end the telegraph tax that was originally used to fund the Spanish-American war? Income tax was temporary measure to pay for WWI. Federal withholding was an emergency measure to stabilize cash flow for WWII.
OK - this is no longer a short answer. NASA is cool but there is no reason it could not be disbanded or replaced tomorrow. Our success has made us think that things can't change. I think we have the 6th oldest flag in the world. Almost every country in the world was created since our revolution. We have some of the oldest corporations and institutions, libraries, museums etc in the world. The first corporation was the Dutch East India company I think. We claim to be the new world but it most respects it is no longer true. I think it is because America is the best. The best idea has value and has endured. But there is no reason not to change things that no longer have value.
I would disband the FDA in a minute. They served a purpose but are no longer needed. Labor unions are archaic. The EPA has been around too long. The UN no longer has value. NATO should be revised. People act like all these have been around since the dawn of man and must continue until the end of time. They were ideas and served a purpose. No longer needed so they should go away. They only survive because we continue to pay taxes for them and the monster of bureaucracy constantly tells us how miserable we would be without it.
K- when you say FDA, EPA, and NASA should go away, does that mean they should be replaced with a new organization with a new charter (truncated of course with a fixed end) to be re-evaluated in the future?
I don't think NASA has a clear mission. I think they did. I wouldn't say the whole thing was a waste. It proved our system was better than communism. I think they should complete the space station and downsize. You can always hire more people if they are needed in the future but most space needs can be met by private enterprise. What mission couldn't be?
I don't like the FDA. What purpose do they serve? I would spin them off as a private company and make them compete in the marketplace. They could try to become the "UL listing" of food and drugs. (Underwriters Laboratory) People trust UL. FDA could make money if they gave people the same confidence. This is not a government function, to control what people put in their bodies. And we have plenty of lawyers to punish fraud. I think the FDA was intended to end corruption and deception. I think it has. That culture will continue whether or not the agency does.
EPA = waste. I don't like so I haven't bothered to learn much about them. Bunch of crazies in my opinion. Collecting fines for bad air seems to be their main goal. America has the best air and water in the world. It is has nothing to do with the EPA. Deceptive tree hugging freaks. How is that for convincing logical argument?
No comments:
Post a Comment