re: #353 gwangung

In WA and CA, universities are considered the powering force of the economy, creating the knowledge necessary for innovations, and creating the skilled work force to bring them to market. The companies in the area acknowledge that and ALWAYS lobby for increased support for higher education.

What do they know that other people dont?

The moonshot cost a *ton* of federal money. And of course there was zero economic development to be found on the moon. The government got not a single dollar, directly, back for it.

On the other hand, the program that made it possible… invented and discovered everything that powered 1970’s-1990’s economic development. For any economist willing to look to second and third level indirect effects, Mercury and Apollo programs got an incredible RoI. Where would we be without satellites, computers, air filtration, water reclamation, the new metal alloys, etc etc etc etc?