Cutbacks in research funding

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kapil_ds
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 11:50 am

Cutbacks in research funding

Post by kapil_ds » Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:19 pm

I know that I am likely to start a firestorm here but I am curious, what do you folks think about the future of research and education in this country. I am talking not just publicly funded research but privately funded as well i.e. future of research and education in totality. Pardon me for making such a political statement, but I think that there is something seriously wrong with a country which believes in cutting research and education funds in name of cutting deficits while giving tax breaks to the millionaires. Sounds penny wise pound foolish to me. Even if we discount the cuts in publicly funded research, do you see the private sector really stepping in and making up for the public sector cutbacks? From my experience in the corporate world, I have not really found the private sector to be particularly far-sighted and willing to fund long term research with uncertain prospects. I don't know about you but all this makes me very concerned indeed.

Kapil


negru
Posts: 307
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2010 3:49 pm

Re: Cutbacks in research funding

Post by negru » Fri Mar 11, 2011 5:27 pm

The private sector doesn't need to directly fund research or anything, but often it actually does. For example, the endowment of many universities is heavily supported by private donations. Also, the more you tax millionaires the less they will be willing to donate and invest. The less investment you have the worse the economy will be.

I mean, I'm pretty sure you haven't just proven that capitalism failed. Just compare countries: you'll generally learn that the more capitalist they are the more research they are producing. This is also why even though eg the EU is heavily taxing and investing in education and calling the US dumb, pretty much everyone will choose the US over EU to get an eduction and/or do and/or look for research and development opportunities.

I would personally not go back to the EU to do anything even if mexicans run over the US. Same with Canada though it is becoming more and more promising. Japan is too fucked up. Everyone else is close to non-existent.


Also, I don't think science and/or eduction is underfunded or in the danger of getting there. It is currently waay over funded. There are simply just too many idiots in top schools that don't belong here and will likely not contribute anything significant when compared to the amount of money thrown at them. If the amount of NSF funding isn't enough to fund your projects, you must clearly have some pretty dumb ass projects, given what is currently being funded.



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