Senate agrees to fund the James Webb Space Telescope | Hacker News Reader

Senate agrees to fund the James Webb Space Telescope

universetoday.com

56 pointsbreadbox9 comments

Yeah this is just the Senate subcommittee bill, which is run by a big spending Marylander who represents the program's home base in Greenbelt. It still has to pass the full committee and then the full Senate. Plus the U.S. House. And there's also a budget supercommittee that's supposed to propose major cuts later this year.

Just some context. Meanwhile, this year Fannie Mae will get more direct bailout funding than NASA's entire budget. The Bush and Obama policy is continuous and the same, sacrificing science for subsidized mortgages and bank bailouts. Enjoy those granite countertops, people!

Good point about Fannie Mae subsidy, but the real housing subsidy is the home mortgage interest tax deduction which costs $130 billion per year. There's also a subsidy in the form of a capital gains exemption when selling a primary residence, I don't know how much that one costs.

the interest tax deduction costs exactly ZERO. in what bizarro world does NOT taxing the citizens equate to a "cost"?

Well, it doesn't cost exactly zero, as there are costs to handling the paperwork, etc. And if you look at economy-wide costs, it distorts economic decision-making, which definitely has costs.

But what the OP is referring to as "cost" would be better said as repealing it would bring the budget $130 billion closer to balance (through increased revenue). But if you insist on that distinction, make sure not to call (for example) tax credits offered for renewable energy a cost, either.

what is it deducting from?

What is the difference between the government mailing out a check vs having people deduct it from their taxes? It's just a hidden expenditure. As a renter I don't get that subsidy, if we both earn the same income but you pay less taxes it's a subsidy, you're on welfare.

That is awesome. Would have been a big waste of time and resources, not to mention a big hit for ongoing science if they had chosen to scrap it.

I very much hope that the JWST gets built, but let us not soccumb to the sunk cost fallacy.

Yeah perhaps I didn't phrase that to well, from what I read the cost required to complete and the opportunity cost given the lead time on these projects I think makes sense to go ahead, of course there is a limit to how much money it makes sense to pump into the project.

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