How the Critics of the Apollo Program Were Proven Wrong

MarkWhittington writes "A recent story in The Atlantic reminds us that the Apollo program, so fondly remembered in the 21st Century, was opposed by a great many people while it was ongoing, on the theory that the money spent going to the moon would have been better spent on poverty programs. The problem with this view was that spending for Lyndon Johnson's Great Society dwarfed the Apollo program, that the programs in the Great Society largely failed to address poverty and other social ills, and that the Apollo program actually had a stimulative effect on the economy that fostered economic growth and created jobs by driving the development of technology,"

Comments

Re:Good to keep in mind

[Anonymous Coward]

Fill my moon pussy with yams.

The Great Society did what could be expected

[frovingslosh]

The problem with this view was that spending for Lyndon Johnson's Great Society dwarfed the Apollo program, that the programs in the Great Society largely failed to address poverty...

That's not true. I was a little kid at the time, but I remember Johnson announcing the "Great Society" and even then I realized that it would cause a lot more poverty. And I was sure right. What the author ignores or fails to understand is that the "Great Society" was designed to increase poverty, not eliminate it. It did exactly what it could be expected to do.

Programs like the space race improved a lot of things for everyone. Programs like the "Great Society" only siphon money from worthy projects, and make poverty seem more attractive.

I realize this will seem cynical, but I can't help notice that the Democrats' voting base has long been the poor. They benefit by having more poor. The Republican's voting base tends to be the better off, those not looking for handouts from the government and generally wanting less government, not more. They tend to understand that they actually have to pay for anything that the "government" gives them, and passing that money through several greedy hands in Washington before getting some of it back isn't very efficient.

Re:Give a man to fish...

[flyingfsck]

Yeah, but what you are missing is that many people - the vast majority on the planet - are incredibly stupid and cannot cope in a modern society. Lots of people are too stupid to learn anything, even fishing. The best (only?) way to fight poverty is with birth control measures. India and Africa can solve most of their problems within 30 years if they would just stop breeding like rabits.