July 20th 1969 Moon landing

[Hoofhurr]

Was it? Or was it a socialist program that drained tax payer dollars that would have been better left in the hands of private industry to develop? I say that, of course, with a bit of cynicism because the vast majority of people who don't believe it was a hoax point to the lunar landing as one of the great accomplishments of US pride and power. The real question is how do you predict whether or not something on that scale of federal financial investment and great apparent risk is worth spending money on? How do you compare it against developing solar energy or a manned mars mission? Too many Americans point to the lunar landing with pride and benefit greatly from the technological advancements that we gained as fallout but few of those same people would put their money where their mouths are and support future missions. :cry:

It's too bad really that the federal government has to take the lead on these types of projects because no other individual or entity has the means or will to even begin considering them. Humans are tight with their purse strings when times are bad and spend greedily on the immediate when times are good. How do you inspire people to value investments on decade or century long timescales other than their 401ks; investments that they may never benefit from during their lifetimes but are clearly worth pursuing?

It just seems like our business cycles are woefully unable to handle civilization-sized advancements. Does everything we do have to be profit or security driven to be worthwhile?