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>but human spaceflight is not what’s getting cut at NASA. Instead, very productive current and future science missions are getting killed, in defiance of Congress [1].

Sounds like ye olde Sowell quote[1] about organizational priorities and budget cuts in action.

[1]https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2013/03/thomas_sowell_budge...

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This isn't cogent, IMO, since Republicans control all 3 arms of government. Who would be the target of intentional public outrage? Also, this is far less incendiary than the cuts to public benefits.

I think GP is suggesting that NASA administrators might have an incentive to apply budget cuts to programs that get more public outrage. However I would imagine human spaceflight to be the more visible type of program for the average voter.

Bureaucracies like to grow, and they're very resistant to cuts, so they become inefficient entities poorly suited to current needs. Private companies have competition as a force that forces some amount of accountability, but I have yet to hear a strategy for effectively discontinuing work the government shouldn't be doing.

> Private companies have competition as a force that forces some amount of accountability

[citation needed]

Private companies these days just buy all their competitors to minimize accountability and maximize shareholder returns.

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