Science And Money
For years, everyone has opined on what to do with the budget surplus:
fund new
educational programs, cut taxes, and so on. Science needs the money.
In some
technologies, we are beginning to fall behind other countries. We
must not allow
this to happen. Everyone reaps the benefits of science;
increasing funding for
research programs would only enhance these benefits.
Where would the United
States be today without science? Science is a big
part of our economy, but today
most research and development occur in the
private sector. Why has the
government cut spending? Because they know that
the private sector will do the
work. Money motivates the private sector to
perform research; when profitability
wanes in a certain area, research by the
private sector also declines. Kenneth
Brown asserts that private firms
often focus on their own product rather than
work on a broader understanding
of science. Should Uncle Sam allow such a
deficiency in research? Increased
government spending in science would produce a
greater breadth and depth of
knowledge. You may ask yourself: why is this
important? As the world leader
in virtually everything, it is imperative for the
US to lead the world in
science also. Not only for defense reasons, but also to
keep pace with other
countries so no country can monopolize a scientific
breakthrough. Would we
want Japan or Russia to come up with a cure for AIDS and
have to purchase the
knowledge from them? The US needs to lead the world in
science; to maintain
this position we must apply the budget surplus to federal
science research
programs.