Posted on 04/25/2025 5:05:32 AM PDT by Twotone
The vast majority of grants coming out of the NSF are good. There are some bad eggs that need to be trimmed out, but it’s a baby and bathwater situation.
Exactly what I was thinking.
Franklin was wealthy; and, it didn’t kites and keys didn’t cost much anyway.
“...corporations fund research that is useful to them to make money...”
But that means there’s a consumer who wants what they come up with. Right now we’re funding research that just gives scientists/PhD students a job & fulfills a line on their vitae, or advances them in their university career. Much of it is just downright ridiculous.
We are $36 Trillion in debt. We cannot afford this kind of thing anymore.
There’s lots of things we can cut to try and get a hold of the debt. Supporting legitimate science shouldn’t be near the top of that list though…
Leftists use the term “legitimate” very broadly. And once a Dem is back in office, the spigots will be back on. I think any agency that does nothing but fund grants & loans should be gone by the end of this administration. NSF, Energy, USAID, Education, etc...
Lets drill down and see what we have:
https://seedfund.nsf.gov/awardees/history/?yr=2024&p1&p2&kw&pp&gv&st
Most of these look like they could have been funded by:
—Universities
—Corporations
—Research and Development Non Profits
I see no reason why taxpayers should be paying for them.
Like a 9 billion government fund does anything.
Government creates nothing.
Door #1 has no money, unless you’re talking about a handful of endowments, Harvard and Yale. Door #2 is corporations, which is where this discussion started. R&D nonprofits? Again, special interests like Gates et al which fund studies where particular results are viewed favorably.
Don’t get me wrong, NSF, NIH, etc are far from perfect. But cleaning them up is a better choice than shutting them down completely.
We have to agree to disagree.
Taxpayers are getting ripped off—and I do not want a bunch of uppity “scientists” deciding where my money goes.
Fair enough on agreeing to disagree. Lots of non-uppity scientists out there, though, who are doing good work, which benefits us all, who depend on NSF. Not a good idea to shutter it, better to clean it up and let the good work go on.
Just because something is “good work” does not mean the taxpayers should pay for it.
That is the mindset that must change.
lol
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