If you think the moon landing money comes back to the government, the defense money does the same, with the added benefit of providing security! I think both a

If you think the moon landing money comes back to the government, the defense money does the same, with the added benefit of providing security! I think both are basically wasted, but that's because I don't buy the premise of your argument. Money is constantly circulating, at a given velocity. Each economic actor chooses a balance of investment and consumption, and spends at a certain rate (some take longer to allocate funds than others). The question for me is whether another actor would have either allocated the money faster, or towards an investment with a higher positive externality. My answer is yes.