What does patriotism have to do with this? Does NASA conduct research to promote American pride? The thinking is that development of space technology will spawn

What does patriotism have to do with this? Does NASA conduct research to promote American pride? The thinking is that development of space technology will spawn new techniques/materials that could lead to new areas of research, find use in day to day life and overall, spur the economy. Every country in the world has poverty. You don't see them stopping all work to help them out.