8 ms·

In the 1990's, a survey was done and found that something like 60% of Americans thought that the NASA budget was 25% of the entire federal budget (it's like 0.4

In the 1990's, a survey was done and found that something like 60% of Americans thought that the NASA budget was 25% of the entire federal budget (it's like 0.4% today). This is done very specifically by propaganda just like you mention to make Americans think that science, space, research is stupid and expensive and we shouldn't do it. Republican politicians especially will use logical fallacies to try to justify reducing our understanding of the world and to justify falling economically behind other countries and powers. It is a case of anti-intellectualism and a strong desire for guns, war, etc and to shun science and basic research. It is born from greed and selfishness and probably also fear of the unknown. NASA is and has always been really really cheap for what it does. But there has been a multiple-decades-long battle to convince Americans otherwise. Edit: Here's a citation on that survey I think: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1 http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1

baldfat 9y ago
I say your 98% wrong because you believe people even think about NASA and science at all. Only 2% of people actually spend time to care about these programs and believe that it is important to their day to day lives. Most people just push these things off the radar. Republicans make the poor and working poor the enemy of the America's middle class. People are fine with CEOs making millions but you say $15 an hour and they will go crazy. Talk about trillions of dollars in debit and they believe welfare checks are the cause.
Sharlin 9y ago
That’s a bit too harsh. NASA supporters and detractors straddle party lines. There are many Democrats who feel that space exploration is a waste of money that would be better spent on social programs. And many Republicans that are very pro-NASA for bragging rights and national security implications if not other reasons.
- jacobsheehy 9y ago
  > There are many Democrats who feel that space exploration is a waste of money that would be better spent on social programs. That may be so, but I've never met one or heard from one. They would seem to me to be such a small minority I did not even know of their existence until today despite being both a democrat and a fan of space and science research. > And many Republicans that are very pro-NASA for bragging rights and national security implications if not other reasons. "For bragging rights?" But I'm talking about support for basic research and science in general. If they show support for NASA publicly for "bragging rights" but then vote party-line items on bills that hurt science research then they are not actually Pro-NASA or pro-science at all. I would even say that's true if they are not extremely vocal every single day about how bad most Republican policies are for science in general.
  - will4274 9y ago
    > That may be so, but I've never met one or heard from one You've never heard Barack Obama speak on TV? http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/nasa-grieves-over-canceled-program http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science.... > "For bragging rights?" 1980/1990s Republicans were pro-NASA to the extent that it proved America was the best country in the world. At that time, Democrats were mostly anti-NASA, believing the money could be better spent on other things. Then, both parties underfunded NASA, but Democrats tended to underfund NASA more severely than Republicans. In the mid 2000s, as Republican opposition to global warming and evolution grew, Democrats became more mixed on NASA, as Republican opposition to NASA could be spun as part of a larger "Republicans are anti-science" narrative (a narrative that remains popular today). Simultaneously, Republican concerns about the deficit grew. Truth be told, the situation is not that different today than in the 80s and 90s. Twenty years ago, neither party funded NASA fully, but the Republicans were slightly more willing. Today, neither party will fund NASA fully, but the Democrats are slightly more willing. There are cynical reasons to think that greater willingness is political in both cases.
    - jacobsheehy 9y ago
      > You've never heard Barack Obama speak on TV? Nope. Not about this anyway. > http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science. What's that supposed to mean? It does not show anything like Obama not supporting NASA, or being a Democrat who thinks space isn't a priority, or anything like that. Not sure what point that link is trying to make in this discussion.
    - free652 9y ago
      >You've never heard Barack Obama speak on TV? What you're trying to prove? That Obama gave more money to NASA?
      - Alupis 9y ago
        FTA: > President Obama's 2011 budget request for NASA cut the agency's Constellation program completely, effectively canceling a five-year, $9 billion effort to build new Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets. It's always sort of a misnomer that the President sets the budget... they really only get to approve/reject what congress lays out (but take all the credit/blame). Of course a president can wish for certain things, and veto a proposed budget that doesn't meet their political goals, but ultimately it's congress that sets the budget. If I recall, it was the 2016/2017 budget proposal under Speaker Paul Ryan that sought dramatic increases in the NASA budget.
Consultant32452 9y ago
FYI, at least according to NdT Republicans tend to fund the sciences more than Democrats. https://youtu.be/x7Q8UvJ1wvk https://youtu.be/x7Q8UvJ1wvk
- jacobsheehy 9y ago
  I'm unable to watch the video right now, I'll check it out in a bit. But I can say right away that you are not responding at all to what I said. I'm aware that Republicans love to fund science, but usually that only happens when it aligns specifically with industry, economics, business, revenue, etc. I very specifically wrote in my post about 'basic science' - that is, science research that is done for the purpose of science research and has no likely vision or anything to be commercialized. That research is extremely important, and is the kind that NASA does a lot (especially stuff like JWST) and is the kind of science that Republicans specifically do not like to fund. I'll watch the video in a bit.
  - Consultant32452 9y ago
    >That research is extremely important, and is the kind that NASA does a lot (especially stuff like JWST) and is the kind of science that Republicans specifically do not like to fund. He specifically calls out NASA as getting more funding under Republicans.
    - jacobsheehy 9y ago
      Okay, but you're still missing my point. It's not about the specific amount of money that is spent. Ever. It's about what the money is spent on and where it goes. I very much suspect that the Republicans who are in favour of increasing NASA's budget are doing it to secure 'jobs' in their own districts and are not doing out of the goodness in their hearts or their desire for more knowledge in the USA about science or space. They often say as much in their speeches. "We will bring jobs!" etc. NASA is a means to an end for a lot of Republicans specifically, as they focus on economy and jobs from the spending bills, not the resources developed or the knowledge learned or the science experiments done or the kids they have inspired to become engineers or anything like that at all. Republicans rarely support basic research, even at NASA.
swarnie_ 9y ago
After all NASA has achieved its a shame its not funded like it was in the 60's. Maybe the prospect of China and India in space will jump start the politicians. We might end up with the correct result but for the wrong reasons.
- craftyguy 9y ago
  As someone who doesn't give two cents about 'national prestige', I sincerely hope some other country picks up the slack and does great things in space. The US is certainly not heading down a road that leads to renewed leadership in this area, but hey we'll have some border walls soon to keep out them nasty criminals!
- kamaal 9y ago
  >>Maybe the prospect of China and India in space will jump start the politicians. Indian here. You are have looked at it the wrong way. India spends very little on ISRO, almost a negligible amount of money is given to ISRO. ISRO has achieved a lot over the years. But its no way close to what NASA has done or is doing.
mynameishere 9y ago
Before attacking huge swathes of the population especially about their ignorance, try doing the tiniest bit of research yourself. NASA has always had high approval ratings--just below the CDC: http://news.gallup.com/poll/121886/CDC-Tops-Agency-Ratings-Federal-Reserve-Board-Lowest.aspx http://news.gallup.com/poll/121886/CDC-Tops-Agency-Ratings-F... I think you will find that people's ignorance about budget particulars are reasonable--it's simply not a day-to-day concern of anybody outside of the GAO or similar bodies. But to say that people are anti-intellectual is just wrong. People are fond of the CDC and NASA, and if NASA's budget was wrongly said to be 25 percent, it probably reflects people's misunderstanding about the good government does (that is, they think it does more good than in reality).
- jacobsheehy 9y ago
  > Before attacking huge swathes of the population especially about their ignorance Wait, what? I never did that! The closest thing to an 'attack' I can imagine anyone reading from my post would have to have been about > Republican politicians which is surely a few thousand people at the most, it has got to be like 0.001% of the population that I said something negative about. > But to say that people are anti-intellectual is just wrong. Some people are. Some very important, prominent and influential people are in fact anti-intellectual and that is not wrong to say. Many Republican politicians are proudly anti-intellectual. They even say that. The GOP in some states like Texas specifically call out education as a problem in their party platform documents. They are, as a group, overall an anti-intellectual group. That is not a false statement, that is composed of their own words. > it probably reflects people's misunderstanding about the good government does Yes, that's my point. People have been brainwashed over decades to assume that the government does no good. > (that is, they think it does more good than in reality). I'm not sure I follow - I've never met a person in my life who thinks the government does good overall, certainly not more good than bad.
  - xamuel 9y ago
    People of any party tend to be anti-scientific when the science in question contradicts their party line. Democrats are as guilty as Republicans.
mrastro 9y ago
I don't know if this is the survey you meant to cite but the 2007 survey [1] has similar results. I disagree with your inference that "this is done very specifically by propaganda just like you mention to make Americans think that science, space, research is stupid and expensive and we shouldn't do it". I think this has more to do with people being very bad at estimating any large figures than people thinking NASA has no benefit. The survey itself notes that "public opinion is less focused the cost side of the equation and more oriented toward the benefits". NASA had a 68% approval rating in 2015 [2]. For better or worst, public approval and funding are not always strongly linked. In this particular case, I personally find it sad that funding is split on party lines. Like you, I wish I could reallocate some of billions of dollars going to the military to projects like this which somehow embody the human spirit. [1] http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1 http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1 [2] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/03/nasa-popularity-still-sky-high/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/03/nasa-popular...
pishpash 9y ago
Or they want it done secretly by the military.
maxxxxx 9y ago
"In the 1990's, a survey was done and found that something like 60% of Americans thought that the NASA budget was 25% of the entire federal budget (it's like 0.4% today)" Of the remaining 75% at least 50% is spent on foreign aid :-)
- bzbarsky 9y ago
  I know it was meant to be a joke, about "foreign aid", but if you haven't seen https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17096732/voter-misinformation-williamson https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17096732/v... you should. Turns out voters aren't as daft on "foreign aid" as is popularly believed by the political commentariat.
  - maxxxxx 9y ago
    When I listen to my neighbor he thinks that welfare is around 60% of budget, foreign aid 20%, social security/medicare 10% and maybe 5% goes to defense.
    - bzbarsky 9y ago
      The correct number for "defense" is 16-20% or so depending on how you count veterans' benefits. But again, it's worth asking yourself how much of that your neighbor is effectively allocating to "defense" and how much to "foreign aid". Because the US military sure doesn't spend that much time actually defending the US recently... The "welfare" vs "social security/medicare" numbers there are off, of course (just about backwards, though if you count Medicaid as "welfare" that puts an 11% floor on the "welfare" number right there).
mlindner 9y ago
Holy strawman batman. Yes everything is literally the fault of Republican politicians. You forget that Democrat politicians care just as little about NASA if not even less. Politicians care that its "made here". Support for NASA is entirely bipartisan with supporters and opponents on both sides of the isle.
FPGAhacker 9y ago
It’s a case of grandstanding. It’s absurd to think about. The annual budget of nasa is less than the monthly interest on our national debt. Well two months.

baldfat 9y ago

I say your 98% wrong because you believe people even think about NASA and science at all. Only 2% of people actually spend time to care about these programs and believe that it is important to their day to day lives. Most people just push these things off the radar. Republicans make the poor and working poor the enemy of the America's middle class. People are fine with CEOs making millions but you say $15 an hour and they will go crazy. Talk about trillions of dollars in debit and they believe welfare checks are the cause.

Sharlin 9y ago

That’s a bit too harsh. NASA supporters and detractors straddle party lines. There are many Democrats who feel that space exploration is a waste of money that would be better spent on social programs. And many Republicans that are very pro-NASA for bragging rights and national security implications if not other reasons.

jacobsheehy 9y ago
> There are many Democrats who feel that space exploration is a waste of money that would be better spent on social programs. That may be so, but I've never met one or heard from one. They would seem to me to be such a small minority I did not even know of their existence until today despite being both a democrat and a fan of space and science research. > And many Republicans that are very pro-NASA for bragging rights and national security implications if not other reasons. "For bragging rights?" But I'm talking about support for basic research and science in general. If they show support for NASA publicly for "bragging rights" but then vote party-line items on bills that hurt science research then they are not actually Pro-NASA or pro-science at all. I would even say that's true if they are not extremely vocal every single day about how bad most Republican policies are for science in general.
- will4274 9y ago
  > That may be so, but I've never met one or heard from one You've never heard Barack Obama speak on TV? http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/nasa-grieves-over-canceled-program http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science.... > "For bragging rights?" 1980/1990s Republicans were pro-NASA to the extent that it proved America was the best country in the world. At that time, Democrats were mostly anti-NASA, believing the money could be better spent on other things. Then, both parties underfunded NASA, but Democrats tended to underfund NASA more severely than Republicans. In the mid 2000s, as Republican opposition to global warming and evolution grew, Democrats became more mixed on NASA, as Republican opposition to NASA could be spun as part of a larger "Republicans are anti-science" narrative (a narrative that remains popular today). Simultaneously, Republican concerns about the deficit grew. Truth be told, the situation is not that different today than in the 80s and 90s. Twenty years ago, neither party funded NASA fully, but the Republicans were slightly more willing. Today, neither party will fund NASA fully, but the Democrats are slightly more willing. There are cynical reasons to think that greater willingness is political in both cases.
  - jacobsheehy 9y ago
    > You've never heard Barack Obama speak on TV? Nope. Not about this anyway. > http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35209628/ns/technology_and_science. What's that supposed to mean? It does not show anything like Obama not supporting NASA, or being a Democrat who thinks space isn't a priority, or anything like that. Not sure what point that link is trying to make in this discussion.
  - free652 9y ago
    >You've never heard Barack Obama speak on TV? What you're trying to prove? That Obama gave more money to NASA?
    - Alupis 9y ago
      FTA: > President Obama's 2011 budget request for NASA cut the agency's Constellation program completely, effectively canceling a five-year, $9 billion effort to build new Orion spacecraft and Ares rockets. It's always sort of a misnomer that the President sets the budget... they really only get to approve/reject what congress lays out (but take all the credit/blame). Of course a president can wish for certain things, and veto a proposed budget that doesn't meet their political goals, but ultimately it's congress that sets the budget. If I recall, it was the 2016/2017 budget proposal under Speaker Paul Ryan that sought dramatic increases in the NASA budget.

Consultant32452 9y ago

FYI, at least according to NdT Republicans tend to fund the sciences more than Democrats. https://youtu.be/x7Q8UvJ1wvk https://youtu.be/x7Q8UvJ1wvk

jacobsheehy 9y ago
I'm unable to watch the video right now, I'll check it out in a bit. But I can say right away that you are not responding at all to what I said. I'm aware that Republicans love to fund science, but usually that only happens when it aligns specifically with industry, economics, business, revenue, etc. I very specifically wrote in my post about 'basic science' - that is, science research that is done for the purpose of science research and has no likely vision or anything to be commercialized. That research is extremely important, and is the kind that NASA does a lot (especially stuff like JWST) and is the kind of science that Republicans specifically do not like to fund. I'll watch the video in a bit.
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  >That research is extremely important, and is the kind that NASA does a lot (especially stuff like JWST) and is the kind of science that Republicans specifically do not like to fund. He specifically calls out NASA as getting more funding under Republicans.
  - jacobsheehy 9y ago
    Okay, but you're still missing my point. It's not about the specific amount of money that is spent. Ever. It's about what the money is spent on and where it goes. I very much suspect that the Republicans who are in favour of increasing NASA's budget are doing it to secure 'jobs' in their own districts and are not doing out of the goodness in their hearts or their desire for more knowledge in the USA about science or space. They often say as much in their speeches. "We will bring jobs!" etc. NASA is a means to an end for a lot of Republicans specifically, as they focus on economy and jobs from the spending bills, not the resources developed or the knowledge learned or the science experiments done or the kids they have inspired to become engineers or anything like that at all. Republicans rarely support basic research, even at NASA.

swarnie_ 9y ago

After all NASA has achieved its a shame its not funded like it was in the 60's. Maybe the prospect of China and India in space will jump start the politicians. We might end up with the correct result but for the wrong reasons.

craftyguy 9y ago
As someone who doesn't give two cents about 'national prestige', I sincerely hope some other country picks up the slack and does great things in space. The US is certainly not heading down a road that leads to renewed leadership in this area, but hey we'll have some border walls soon to keep out them nasty criminals!
kamaal 9y ago
>>Maybe the prospect of China and India in space will jump start the politicians. Indian here. You are have looked at it the wrong way. India spends very little on ISRO, almost a negligible amount of money is given to ISRO. ISRO has achieved a lot over the years. But its no way close to what NASA has done or is doing.

mynameishere 9y ago

Before attacking huge swathes of the population especially about their ignorance, try doing the tiniest bit of research yourself. NASA has always had high approval ratings--just below the CDC: http://news.gallup.com/poll/121886/CDC-Tops-Agency-Ratings-Federal-Reserve-Board-Lowest.aspx http://news.gallup.com/poll/121886/CDC-Tops-Agency-Ratings-F... I think you will find that people's ignorance about budget particulars are reasonable--it's simply not a day-to-day concern of anybody outside of the GAO or similar bodies. But to say that people are anti-intellectual is just wrong. People are fond of the CDC and NASA, and if NASA's budget was wrongly said to be 25 percent, it probably reflects people's misunderstanding about the good government does (that is, they think it does more good than in reality).

jacobsheehy 9y ago
> Before attacking huge swathes of the population especially about their ignorance Wait, what? I never did that! The closest thing to an 'attack' I can imagine anyone reading from my post would have to have been about > Republican politicians which is surely a few thousand people at the most, it has got to be like 0.001% of the population that I said something negative about. > But to say that people are anti-intellectual is just wrong. Some people are. Some very important, prominent and influential people are in fact anti-intellectual and that is not wrong to say. Many Republican politicians are proudly anti-intellectual. They even say that. The GOP in some states like Texas specifically call out education as a problem in their party platform documents. They are, as a group, overall an anti-intellectual group. That is not a false statement, that is composed of their own words. > it probably reflects people's misunderstanding about the good government does Yes, that's my point. People have been brainwashed over decades to assume that the government does no good. > (that is, they think it does more good than in reality). I'm not sure I follow - I've never met a person in my life who thinks the government does good overall, certainly not more good than bad.
- xamuel 9y ago
  People of any party tend to be anti-scientific when the science in question contradicts their party line. Democrats are as guilty as Republicans.

mrastro 9y ago

I don't know if this is the survey you meant to cite but the 2007 survey [1] has similar results. I disagree with your inference that "this is done very specifically by propaganda just like you mention to make Americans think that science, space, research is stupid and expensive and we shouldn't do it". I think this has more to do with people being very bad at estimating any large figures than people thinking NASA has no benefit. The survey itself notes that "public opinion is less focused the cost side of the equation and more oriented toward the benefits". NASA had a 68% approval rating in 2015 [2]. For better or worst, public approval and funding are not always strongly linked. In this particular case, I personally find it sad that funding is split on party lines. Like you, I wish I could reallocate some of billions of dollars going to the military to projects like this which somehow embody the human spirit. [1] http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1 http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1000/1 [2] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/03/nasa-popularity-still-sky-high/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/02/03/nasa-popular...

pishpash 9y ago

Or they want it done secretly by the military.

maxxxxx 9y ago

"In the 1990's, a survey was done and found that something like 60% of Americans thought that the NASA budget was 25% of the entire federal budget (it's like 0.4% today)" Of the remaining 75% at least 50% is spent on foreign aid :-)

bzbarsky 9y ago
I know it was meant to be a joke, about "foreign aid", but if you haven't seen https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17096732/voter-misinformation-williamson https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/13/17096732/v... you should. Turns out voters aren't as daft on "foreign aid" as is popularly believed by the political commentariat.
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  When I listen to my neighbor he thinks that welfare is around 60% of budget, foreign aid 20%, social security/medicare 10% and maybe 5% goes to defense.
  - bzbarsky 9y ago
    The correct number for "defense" is 16-20% or so depending on how you count veterans' benefits. But again, it's worth asking yourself how much of that your neighbor is effectively allocating to "defense" and how much to "foreign aid". Because the US military sure doesn't spend that much time actually defending the US recently... The "welfare" vs "social security/medicare" numbers there are off, of course (just about backwards, though if you count Medicaid as "welfare" that puts an 11% floor on the "welfare" number right there).

mlindner 9y ago

Holy strawman batman. Yes everything is literally the fault of Republican politicians. You forget that Democrat politicians care just as little about NASA if not even less. Politicians care that its "made here". Support for NASA is entirely bipartisan with supporters and opponents on both sides of the isle.

FPGAhacker 9y ago

It’s a case of grandstanding. It’s absurd to think about. The annual budget of nasa is less than the monthly interest on our national debt. Well two months.