I agree. I work at a large national research institute, 50 % of our budget is financed through grants. Just last week we were told by my institute's director (

I agree. I work at a large national research institute, 50 % of our budget is financed through grants. Just last week we were told by my institute's director (and I'm rephrasing only slightly): "If you really want to help our finances, do something that makes it into the evening news. Then it's easy for politicians to send money our way, they love to finance things that appear on the evening news. Because that is their currency for the next election. But if we don't succeed at it, it will be even harder in the future."