Where Scientific Stimulus Funding Went
A government website details where $21 billion in funding for R&D was allocated.
Katherine Bourzac 11/17/2009
- 17 Comments
The stimulus plan passed by the US Congress earlier this year provided $21 billion for scientific R&D to be allocated through the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and other agencies. (The full text of the bill is available in this large pdf file.) The debate still rages amongst politicians and economists about just how many jobs the $787 billion bill has created. In the meantime, the government has launched an interesting website detailing where that scientific R&D money went.
Call it propaganda--the site is called ScienceWorksForUS--but it's interesting to browse through the detailed list and see which research projects were funded and for how much. You can browse by state from the homepage, and a full report is here in a large pdf file. A lion's share of the funds was allocated through the National Institutes of Health, and a browse through of projects funded in my home state of California reflects this. However, there was also an emphasis on renewable energy research. For analysis on stimulus funding of renewable energy technologies, check out Technology Review editor David Rotman's two-part feature on the subject here and here.
On Twitter
Become a Fan on Facebook
Subscribe to the Feed
kstauff
130 Comments
A vast waste
I fully support increased funding in Science and Technology, especially with regards to energy research as well as science and math education at the K-12 levels. But by the administration's statement that the $787 billion stimulus has already had its greatest impact on our economy while unemployment creeps past 10%, I think it is a safe statement that this has been probably the single greatest waste of money by any administration and congress ever. Sadly, we will be paying for it for the next generation or two.
Reply
fiberman
186 Comments
Re: A vast waste
Well, it took the previous administration 8 years to destroy the economy, so don't you think it prudent to give the current one more than 1 year to rebuild it?
Reply
kstauff
130 Comments
Re: A vast waste
If you call tripling the annual deficit while making no impact on unemployment "rebuilding the economy", well then, okay! Add to this increased taxes and new entitlements and lets see how that works out for you. It's not looking good. And I'll remind you that for 6 of those previous 8 years, the Democrats effectively controlled Congress, including oversight of the mortgage industry. The Republicans share plenty of blame, but I would hardly say the Democrats are without guilt for what's transpired, and the reckless fiscal path they're taking will not help in the short or long term.
Reply
gabrielg01
450 Comments
Re: A vast waste - braindead republicans...
..."reckless fiscal path"...
Democrats try to spend money on productive activities. Some day that investment will pay off nicely.
Republicans spent the money on destructive activities. Wars are not investments.
For the republican zombies out there, here is a reminder about Bush's achievements:
http://costofwar.com/
What results can republicans show in return for all that money?...War-money down the drain! Idiots!
Reply
spad12
58 Comments
Re: A vast waste - braindead republicans...
Considering that the majority of the money spent on war is spent in the US, and does actually create and support millions of jobs, I would say that it isn't that much of a waste.
Yeah it is a lot of money, but generally that money spent sees returns in military personnel that upon leaving the military have a high level of technical skill, the opportunity to go to college for cheap, and are all tax paying members of society.
Defense Industries also provide millions of jobs, and defense research provides many advances in civilian technologies.
Also nifty website, kinda funny that almost the same amount of money has been spent two conflicts that have been going on for years, as a single "stimulus package" that went out in a few months...
Reply
gabrielg01
450 Comments
Re: A vast waste - braindead republicans...
Your military spending argument is a classic sophistry. Fake, fake fake!!!
There is no need to detour money via the military complex to create jobs, and send kids to college.
You could just spend that money directly in the civilian sphere. Create jobs and send kids to college on that money, without involving the military in it.
Example: Instead of building an M1 Abrams tank, use the money to develop&build electric cars, et cetera...
Reply
spad12
58 Comments
Re: A vast waste - braindead republicans...
I think history can prove my point.
Great Depression -> World War (massive defense spending) -> No more Depression
vs.
Great Depression -> New Deal -> Great Depression still
hmm I wonder....
Reply
gabrielg01
450 Comments
Re: A vast waste - braindead republicans...
Bush spent money for close to a decade on wars. When he left office, the economy collapsed. There is history for you.
Reply
skingw
31 Comments
Re: A vast waste - braindead republicans...
History also tells us: too many human beings for too little resources --> great wars (killing a lot) --> a lot of resources and a baby boom
Is that a great reasoning for supporting wars (esp. great wars)?
Reply
kstauff
130 Comments
Re: A vast waste - braindead republicans...
Are you as angry at Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton for the wars they prosecuted? Will your hate for these war mongers extend to Obama if he continues the protracted effort in Afghanistan?
Reply
franquellim
14 Comments
Re: A vast waste
First of all, the Obama administration did not triple the annual deficit. The administration chose to actually account for war spending in the budget, rather than use 'emergency supplemental' budget requests. An eight year old war no longer constitutes an emergency, from a funding perspective. Second, the majority of the annual deficit increase comes from reduced tax revenues as a result of the economy going in the tank.
As to who controlled Congress, you have it backwards. Democrats controlled the House from ( I believe) 2000-2002 and the Senate from 2006-2008. The Republicans controlled one or both houses of Congress for all eight of the Bush years.
Democrats do share blame, but they are not responsible for setting us on this path, Republicans are. Democrats are trying to steer us back to some measure of fiscal responsibility, which we enjoyed prior to the second Bush administration.
Reply
kstauff
130 Comments
Re: A vast waste
You're right, I overestimated the number of democrats in both houses, although I believe that the Senate was relatively close post-2004 because the independents caucused with the Democrats. I do think it's important to note that with regard to the mortgage crisis, the Bush administration warned the then Democrat-controlled congress of the problem in 2007, but the warning was ignored by the committees with oversight.
Reply
kstauff
130 Comments
Re: A vast waste
I believe the deficit left by the Bush administration for fiscal '08 was around $500 billion. TARP 2 was also lumped onto that, even though it was actually approved by Obama.
Obama appears to be on track to at least double and perhaps triple the deficit. Tax revenues are down because of high unemployment, and yet spending for TARP2, the stimulus and other government bailouts like GM will drive the deficit higher. If it wasn't for some of the TARP funds being paid back early, it would be even higher. The $80 billion dollar investment in GM is also widely thought to be unrecoverable.
When you examine the legislation for health care being debated, along with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, it becomes clear that the economy is going to take a significant hit in the coming years. And all of this is happening without fixing the issues in SS and Medicare. It is a horrendous mess, and no one seems willing to look at it and fix it.
Reply
pennybright
1 Comment
Re: A vast waste
The waste in research funding is not the amounts, but HOW IT IS USED. The peer-review system should work, but people award money to their friends. Much money is wasted when it HAS to be spent by a certain time. Lives are wasted when hard-working scientists do not get funded, while megalabs get richer and richer.
Reply