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The US Federal Government spends ~1 Trillion dollars on various welfare programs per year. The James Web Space telescope program has costed $11B over 25 years.
by SonicScrub 5y ago
The US Federal Government spends ~1 Trillion dollars on various welfare programs per year. The James Web Space telescope program has costed $11B over 25 years. Or roughly ~0.04% of the total amount spent on poverty elimination / management programs in the same period. The argument that "space-exploration is too expensive, we should eliminate poverty instead" is pure nonsense when comparing the scales of the resources applied to those two issues. I fail to see how increasing welfare spending by 0.04% at the expense of the James Webb program would be in any way beneficial.
[1] https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CRS%20Report%20-%20Welfare%20Spending%20The%20Largest%20Item%20In%20The%20Federal%20Budget.pdf https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CRS%20Report%20-...
- podgaj 5y agoIf $1T is not enough to end homelessness, then maybe that extra $11B would help? But pulling welfare funding numbers from "The Desk of Jeff Sessions" might not be a good place to start. https://www.cbpp.org/blog/the-deeply-flawed-sessions-report-on-safety-net-spending https://www.cbpp.org/blog/the-deeply-flawed-sessions-report-... So no, we do not spend $1T on "welfare" a year. But let's focus on the money spent specifically for helping house the homeless. It is only $2.5B. https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_21_017 https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HU... The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $2.5 billion to renew support to thousands of local homeless assistance programs across the nation. HUD's Continuum of Care (CoC) grants will provide critically needed support to 6,597 local programs on the front lines of serving individuals and families experiencing homelessness. See local impact of funding below.