Comment by Retric
13 days ago
> Add more or less value to the government than functions the government has chosen
Talking about average government spending isn’t a reasonable argument because you can only spend money once. If these people cost ~1B/year you aren’t paying for 100+B in spending by cutting them. Instead you get to add exactly 1B in government spending and thus the yardstick is the least efficient billion you’re paying out vs keeping these people.
Not that we actually balance the budget making the idea of short term saving meaningless. Instead it’s about long term consequences.
Agreed. Point of raising that was even if you don't think NASA scientists are productive in the long term, it isn't obvious that priorities government expenditure has been redirected to like Mar-a-Lago bills, ballrooms or recruiting people unqualified to be law enforcement to shoot protesters are higher ROI