Does it really ****ing matter at this point?
Every cent that is spent by the government on anything that is not law enforcement, military, courts, or their own basic administration is a violation of the rights of those who are forced to fund it. Every sphere of human action which they usurp is a monopoly enforced by law that people have no choice but to pay for. It's conventional wisdom at this point that such behavior is inevitable and even if people thought it was wrong, they consider themselves hopeless to do anything about it Death and taxes, right?
$2 billion spent by private researchers on the same goal would not only have succeeded faster, it probably would have turned a profit.
But, you know, who gives a ****? I'm reaching the point where it's amusing to me to watch people fight over what their keepers should do with other people's money, while they delude themselves into thinking that because some of their money is in the pot, they get some kind of say in where it goes.
