LISA won’t go away, it’s too important to science and our future. It will just go elsewhere; to other countries and private contractors, (maybe even American ones, but that’s probably too much to hope for).

I hope all you extremely wealthy Americans are thoroughly enjoying those beautiful homes, private jets, fancy cars, massages, gourmet meals and other perks that the Bush tax cuts and a total lack of fiscal restraint and regulatory oversight have helped to finance.

I’ve lost all respect for you.

We are going through a temporary financial problem. Most likely. It’s not like the world hasn’t faced problems before and considerable numbers of those were far, far worse than now. All we have to do is exile all the irresponsible financial types and hope there are more than a dozen left to keep the system running (hah!).

If LISA has merit it will be back, though perhaps in a different form.

Meanwhile I maintain that proven successful and productive projects are what need to be protected and nurtured at this time. Bleeding edge projects with a 50-95% chance of failing are a waste of time and political capital during a financial pinch. Especially if they are expensive to begin with and very likely to overrun their initial budgets. By a lot!