Re: Space funding (was Re: Hillary needs to quit)

John Schilling wrote:
>
> Total US spending on the Iraq War, 2003 - present, per the
> Congressional Research Service: $520 billion.
>

That is if you believe those numbers.  I don't.  You shouldn't.  Those 
figures are simply not true or accurate.  Not even close.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/wa****ngton/19cost.html?fta=y

"Five years in, the Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600

billion and counting. Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist 
and critic of the war, pegs the long-term cost at more than $4 trillion.
The 
Congressional Budget Office and other analysts say that $1 trillion to $2 
trillion is more realistic, depending on troop levels and on how long the 
American occupation continues."

"Among economists and policymakers, the question of how to tally the cost
of 
the war is a matter of hot dispute. And the costs continue to climb.
"Congressional Democrats fiercely criticize the White House over war 
expenditures. But it is virtually certain that the Democrats will provide 
tens of billions more in a military spending bill next month. Some
Democrats 
are even arguing against attaching strings, like a deadline for
withdrawal, 
saying the tactic will fail as it has in the past.

"All of the war-price tallies include operations in the war zone, sup****t 
for troops, repair or replacement of equipment, reservists' salaries, 
special combat pay for regular forces and some care for wounded veterans -

expenses that typically fall outside the regular Defense Department or 
Veterans Affairs budgets.

"The highest estimates often include projections for future operations, 
long-term health care and disability costs for veterans, a ****tion of the 
regular, annual defense budget, and, in some cases, wider economic
effects, 
including a percentage of higher oil prices and the impact of raising the 
national debt to cover increased war spending."


> Total spending on public primary and secondary (i.e K-12) education in
> the US, 2003 - present, per the US Census Bureau: $2,700 billion.
>
> That's a five-gallon drop in a one-gallon bucket.  Which means, the
> only thing in this discussion that counts as "very small" is Dano's
> credibility.
>
> For everyone else, consider the implications: The United States spend
> half a *trillion* dollars a year on public K-12 education.  That's not
> counting private or parochial schools, and it's not counting colleges
> and universities.  Half a trillion dollars.
>

Not in FEDERAL dollars.

http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/summary/edlite-section1.html

"For 2008, the President is requesting $56.0 billion in discretionary 
appropriations for the Department of Education, the same as the 2007
level. 
Discretionary appropriations for the Department have grown by $13.8
billion, 
or 33 percent, since fiscal year 2001."

That's a long way from even 1 Trillion dollars friend.  No matter how you 
count it.

> Anybody who thinks the problem is that we aren't spending enough money
> on education, think again.  Anybody who thinks spending more money
> will help, think again.  Anybody who thinks raiding NASA's budget, or
> even the Pentagon's budget, is going to make any difference at all,
> check with lost and found because you've misplaced a big chunk of
> your brain.

YOU wish to question credibility?  This is not about "raiding" anyone's 
budget.  It's about spending priorities, pure and simple.  Your silly
little 
insults only highlight the desperation of your increasingly weak argument.