Obama goes 'all in' for science

[n2doc]

04 March 2009 by Peter Aldhous, San Francisco

NEVER has so much money been pumped into science so quickly and with so much hanging on a successful outcome. The full scope of President Barack Obama's agenda to revitalise the ailing US economy has now been revealed, and it is arguably the biggest bet on science and technology in history.

The Obama administration's latest attempt to tackle the problems facing the US is a record $3.6 trillion budget request for 2010. This has come hard on the heels of a $787 billion "stimulus package" designed to give the US economy a shot in the arm. Both are packed with funding for science and technology ventures, from healthcare research to an electricity supergrid. The stimulus alone hands out more than $20 billion for basic research and about $50 billion to support renewable power and energy efficiency (see charts).

The stimulus bill calls for the funds to be spent in two years, though in some areas it may take longer. In terms of dollars per year, it is arguably the most cash that has ever been pumped into scientific research. Even the Apollo programme and the Manhattan project - which cost over $200 billion and $35 billion at today's value - were spread over 11 and five years, respectively. It seems Obama is delivering on his promise to restore science to its rightful place. "He is committed to putting his money where his mouth is - or putting our money where his mouth is," says Lesley Stone of the lobby group Scientists and Engineers for America.

Yet in the light of US budget plans for 2010, it is clear that Obama's goal is about more than giving the economy a kick-start by spending on scientists' salaries and test tubes. In the detail of the stimulus are key components of a wider agenda, aspects of which might have triggered a fight if they had not been hurried through.

more:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126984.000-obama-goes-all-in-for-science.html

[Champion Jack]

1. Most Excellent!!

[phantom power]

2. $20 billion = 0.56% of the budget. It's practically rounding error.

And yet R&D gets demagogued every year as pork by the American know-nothing subculture.

[n2doc]

3. I know. Can you imagine if science got 1/4 of what we spent on defense?

Hell, the science depicted in the movie 2001 might not have been such a crazy dream after all in that case. And I suspect we would have practical, cheap alternative energy by now as well...

[silverweb]

4. Fantastic!

:bounce: