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Comment by TomMarius | Hacker News Reader

> not every aspect of life needs to be optimised and tuned for full productivity / efficiency.

Eh, this what we're talking about is public money forcefully taken as taxes

One of the criticisms I keep hearing about NASA is that the very thing which made it good in the Space Race era has also been the milestone around its neck ever since — that it is structured as a pork barrel jobs program in each and every state.

I have no way to tell how fair that claim is, but I’m sure someone here has either been into space or worked closely enough with NASA to comment.

If that’s true, the “waste” is also the advertising that gets the funding for the things which matter. And that’s even ignoring the possibility that the manned missions do the things which can’t be automated.

I was talking about efficient usage of public money, not NASA

NASA's budget is less than half of 1% of the USA total budget (2020 figures from Wikipedia). I daresay there are other areas (cough military spending cough) that would benefit from some examination as to where money can be saved through reduction / efficiencies.

BTW I'm not American, but have followed NASA projects for many, many years, and they almost always give me some greater hope for the future of mankind (not to mention admiration for the science and engineering people behind the scenes).

Okay, but as I said, I did not talk about NASA at all.

I was talking about making sure all public money is used for public benefit and not for entertainment as the OP suggested, because if you're taking money from someone with force "for their benefit", you better not waste it. I don't think what NASA does is wrong, btw.

Not an American as well.

public money forcefully taken as taxes

I'm sure that one day, some big event is going to come along that will make Americans appreciate taxpayer-funded services that provide for everybody.

Fear not, all the highly profitable privatized humanitarian aid corporations are lining up as we speak...

Like anybody was suggesting anything such. Try to read my comment again.

tou-chy. jeez, your ego is that fragile? I mean you downvoted AND replied with some snippy-ass attitude. It's so absurd I actually can't stop laughing right now, thanks.

I did not downvote you, buddy - I never do, anything. The thing is people like you always come to a comment that is saying something that might be very remotely counter-state (and in this case was not at all), and take it to the extreme. It's not about ego, I just don't think it's any addition to the discussion at all - it's completely off topic.

Now I am laughing out very loudly, thank you. :-)

You're welcome! My original post was tounge in cheek and supposed to evoke a chuckle.

The parent's point – though ideologically charged – is that care should be taken to ensure taxes are used for maximum public benefit, rather than being wasted on things that don't benefit the public.

The current crisis is a demonstration of why this is important.

Thank you. I tried to get ideology out of it.

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