Funding to Nasa Should be Increased in Order to Stimulate the Economy

In your argument you stated the following, "Spending millions in tax money on unneeded and often unproductive National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions is ridiculous". While I admit NASA often spends money on needlessly expensive projects and that is something that needs to be fixed, on the whole NASA has benefited the modern world with the majority of its endeavors. My first argument is one that revolves around technology. The Cold War is so often associated with a military stalemate between the Soviet Union and the United States. When I think of the Cold War I think of the Space Race. While it was a time for rapid growth in human achievement, it also marked one of the most rapid progressions in the development of technology. NASA itself pioneered and field tested some of the tech that is now present in almost all modern day communication and electronics, such as the laptop and telecommunication. While the laptop was not a Cold War invention, it is based off the SPOC, or the Shuttle Portable Onboard Computer, which was present during NASA's shuttle program and debuted in 1983. Modern computer components were tested in the Apollo program, such as some of the first silicon chips were tested in the AGC, or the Apollo Guidance Computer. The key component of the AGC was the integrated circuit, invented in 1958, but was first introduced into a specific role by NASA. Another example of revolutionary technology being pioneered by NASA is the NASTRAN, or the NASA Structural Analysis Program, and is one of the basic elements in modern day engineering. How does this impact the economy though? In order for these technologies to make it into the public setting, NASA handed over many of these technologies to the Private Sector, which put them into production. The Private Sector is key to economic growth, something we desperately need to fix the our current economic sitting. To be frank our economy is not growing as fast as it needs to be. Most recent reports place our GDP growth as just 0.7%, nowhere near what is sometimes referred to as 'escape velocity' in order to jump start growth. In many ways our economy is looking similar to if not worse than the FY of 2015. The US has also been engulfed in a seven year period of nearly 0% interest rates, and with 3.7 trillion dollars worth of money printed, inflation is getting worse. In addition, 6 trillion dollars have been piled onto the public debt, with no sign of letting up. Unemployment is at 5%, and while this is better than 2008, the real numbers are much higher. The number only accounts for people actively seeking work, and many have dropped out of the labor force altogether due to shrinking wages and rising taxes. Frankly, the recovery from the 2008 Recession has been much to slow, and the Private Sector is still hurting. In order to fix this I propose funding be diverted to NASA, but NASA in return needs to PRIORITIZE on beneficial endeavors, such as Mars and the asteroid Belt, along with improving satellite technology. You also state, quote, "During a recent radio programme, a NASA astronaut asked me how the American people might react if the next man on the moon were Chinese. I replied with a question: "why are Americans so insecure? " If the Chinese want that worthless rock, so be it. "' What I am most curious about here is the notion of the moon being worthless. In truth, it is entirely the opposite. Helium-3, an isotope of Helium, is embedded in the regolith on the moon, and is proposed to be a solution to the energy crisis on Earth. While it is limited as a resource, it would be a stepping stone. Asteroids alone can be worth up to 95.8 trillion dollars in mineral and metal wealth, such as 241 Germania. This well outweighs the cost of a such mission to get there in the first place, and could spawn a multi billion, even multi trillion, dollar industry in its wake. In essence, NASA provides innovation and new technology to the private sector through projects, which in turn can stimulate economic growth, and there are resources worth trillions for the taking drifting in the solar system, which could also start an economic period of prosperity. While this alone cannot fix the economy, it is a good place to start.