BBS Hocus-Pocus: Poll Asks Worth of Mars Mission While Touting Money to "Alleviate Poverty"

BBC ^ | January 10, 2004 | nwrep

[nwrep]

PING

[Support Free Republic]

[bolobaby]

1. Manned Mars mission: $1tr (informal estimate)

An estimate is a guess, ultimately...
"And guesses - just so we're clear - are merely expressions of prejudice." - Michael Crichton

[demlosers]

1. Manned Mars mission: $1tr (informal estimate)

That's pretty cheap for a planet! A bargain.

[okie01]

4. Additional total annual foreign aid needed alleviate global poverty: $50bn

There is a much cheaper -- and far better -- way:

Export copious quantities of freedom and capitalism.

Of course, this would never occur to the socialists at the Beeb.

[Egon]

The poll results were encouraging. 80% for.

What the 20% who are complaining about the cost don't realize is that, ironically, the very fact that they're able to sit at home and type their illogical conclusions on a PC is a direct result of the miniaturization of technology, brought about as a direct result of those "wasteful" early space missions.

It's troubling that there's at least one out of five people that don't know enough about history to realize this. "I weep for the future."

[jocko12]

U.S. CONGREES PORK NEXT 2 YEARS 1-2TR DOLLARS.

[bolobaby]

4. Additional total annual foreign aid needed alleviate global poverty: $50bn

This has to be the most laughable figures I have seen in a long, long, long time.

[bolobaby]

I mean - c'mon! - we pump $160bln in Iraq and that's not going to alleviate poverty in just THAT country. The $50bln figure is such BS it hurts.

[solzhenitsyn]

All the money in the world couldn't cure poverty. Some people behave as if they're bound and determined to be poor, and somehow, they always pull it off, no matter how much others do for them.

[duckbutt]

How long do you think it would have taken for America to be discovered if Queen Isabella had told Columbus - - sorry, I can't spend money on exploration until we alleviate poverty here in Spain......

Mankind by nature explores.....he creates.....we need to do this - it's in our very nature.....

[RightWhale]

4. Additional total annual foreign aid needed alleviate global poverty: $50bn

Right. $50 billion a day.

[small voice in the wilderness]

COSTS COMPARED 1. Manned Mars mission: $1tr (informal estimate) 2. Apollo Moon landings: $150bn 3. War and reconstruction in Iraq (US only): $160bn 4. Additional total annual foreign aid needed alleviate global poverty: $50bn 5. Mars rovers: $820m Sources: 1, 2, 5: Nasa, 3: US Government, 4: World Bank

Making the BBC's Collective Heads Explode: Priceless

[okie01]

There are two ways to give $50 billion annually to "alleviate global poverty".

1. Give it to the corrupt dictatorships. They'll skim 50% off the top and distribute the other 50% to their key supporters, who will, in turn, distribute half of their share to the masses.

2. Give it to an incompetent international bureaucracy of do-gooders. They'll consume 80% of the sum in fixed overhead and dribble out the other 20% to the local despots -- who will skim half, etc.

All in all, it's better to just burn the money in an incinerator and generate some kilowatts.

[Diogenesis]

The BBC? Are the BBC terrorists finished murdering all of the UK witnesses yet?

[bolobaby]

How long do you think it would have taken for America to be discovered if Queen Isabella had told Columbus - - sorry, I can't spend money on exploration until we alleviate poverty here in Spain......

Exactly. Exploration historically leads to vast amounts of wealth for the exploring country. I can't imagine it would be any different as we open up the next frontier: space.

[SandRat]

Can't the left find some different lyrics? Any program that does spend money on a direct government mismanaged entitlement program is made to sound like a Dicken's novel.

[CyberAnt]

Hmmmm? If we build equipment to go to the Moon and Mars .. I wonder HOW MANY JOBS THAT WOULD CREATE ..?? Just checking ..??

[Straight Vermonter]

Sure the space program is taking food out of the poor people's mouths.