Comments on: NASA budget request: some good news! http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:57:22 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: matt http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/comment-page-1/#comment-68560 matt Wed, 06 Feb 2008 08:05:36 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/#comment-68560 "A 1.8% increase is a functional decrease in funding. Inflation rate is ~3%. So 1.8% increase will still buy less for NASA than the budget of the previous year." Keep in mind when you hear federal budget figures inflation is already figured in. some the 1.8% increase is on top of inflation. Also keep in mind when you hear about a budget "cut" it not a cut but they aren't getting there full inflation increase. I Don't think there has been a real spending cut in Washington since Newt ran the Congress. “A 1.8% increase is a functional decrease in funding. Inflation rate is ~3%. So 1.8% increase will still buy less for NASA than the budget of the previous year.”

Keep in mind when you hear federal budget figures inflation is already figured in. some the 1.8% increase is on top of inflation.

Also keep in mind when you hear about a budget “cut” it not a cut but they aren’t getting there full inflation increase. I Don’t think there has been a real spending cut in Washington since Newt ran the Congress.

]]> By: Trebuchet http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/comment-page-1/#comment-68559 Trebuchet Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:54:58 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/#comment-68559 The budget is DOA anyhow. The Democratic congress won't give it a second look. Putting on my conspiracy theory hat, it may be simply an election-year ploy by the Republicans so they can say "Look, the evil democrats refused to pass our military funding requests! Hillary (or Barrack) hates our troops!" The budget is DOA anyhow. The Democratic congress won’t give it a second look.

Putting on my conspiracy theory hat, it may be simply an election-year ploy by the Republicans so they can say “Look, the evil democrats refused to pass our military funding requests! Hillary (or Barrack) hates our troops!”

]]> By: Barton Paul Levenson http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/comment-page-1/#comment-68558 Barton Paul Levenson Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:26:51 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/#comment-68558 [[<i>we enjoyed a 1.8% funding increase </i>]] Isn't inflation running higher than that? And in the new seven launches, I did not see the climate-mapping satellite that had been mothballed. [[we enjoyed a 1.8% funding increase ]]

Isn’t inflation running higher than that?

And in the new seven launches, I did not see the climate-mapping satellite that had been mothballed.

]]> By: Matt http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/comment-page-1/#comment-68557 Matt Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:10:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/#comment-68557 seriously the hole FY'09 budged is retarded, Bush wants to cut money for education (yay!) and raise the military budged to friggin 515 billion dollar, that's a 7.5% increase. You know, that's retarded. This is almost as much as the WHOLE annual budged of Germany and Germany is the most populous country in Europe... also, the FY'09 as it is now would could the money spend on social issues will be cut by 200 billion dollars. Did I mention that this budged request will result in a deficit of 400 billion dollars? That's "only" more than double the deficit of 2007 (163 billion). You know what? Bush is a demented idiot. Congress isn't much better, seeing what PZMyers wrote here: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/02/our_congress_takes_care_of_the.php seriously the hole FY’09 budged is retarded, Bush wants to cut money for education (yay!) and raise the military budged to friggin 515 billion dollar, that’s a 7.5% increase. You know, that’s retarded. This is almost as much as the WHOLE annual budged of Germany and Germany is the most populous country in Europe… also, the FY’09 as it is now would could the money spend on social issues will be cut by 200 billion dollars.

Did I mention that this budged request will result in a deficit of 400 billion dollars? That’s “only” more than double the deficit of 2007 (163 billion). You know what? Bush is a demented idiot.

Congress isn’t much better, seeing what PZMyers wrote here: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/02/our_congress_takes_care_of_the.php

]]> By: Lugosi http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/comment-page-1/#comment-68556 Lugosi Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:46:42 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/#comment-68556 <b>davidlpf:</b> <i>"Is Uranus near the great negatron charged gas cloud?"</i> Only when I eat beans. davidlpf: “Is Uranus near the great negatron charged gas cloud?”
Only when I eat beans.

]]> By: Pat http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/comment-page-1/#comment-68555 Pat Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:57:35 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/#comment-68555 So much good money burned in futile conflict gone to crony contractors, add that to state-interested parties in tagging money for building the ISS. Imagine how many space telescopes alone we could have built for the cost of the ISS, all because some decrepit local economy depends on contracts for defunct useless component X. So much good money burned in futile conflict gone to crony contractors, add that to state-interested parties in tagging money for building the ISS. Imagine how many space telescopes alone we could have built for the cost of the ISS, all because some decrepit local economy depends on contracts for defunct useless component X.

]]> By: Kevin Conod http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/comment-page-1/#comment-68554 Kevin Conod Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:24:50 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/02/04/nasa-budget-request-some-good-news/#comment-68554 If I read correctly, science at NASA got a boost (yay!) but education got a $60 million cut (boo!). If I read correctly, science at NASA got a boost (yay!) but education got a $60 million cut (boo!).

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