NASA Fiscal Cliff Update
Implications of Enactment of the “American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012” for NASA
“The agreement reached by Congress and signed by the President delays sequestration for a period of two months, until March 1, 2013. Accordingly, no automatic reductions in budgetary resources will take place at this time. The deal provides Congress with additional time to work on a balanced plan that can prevent these automatic spending cuts from ever occurring. This means that, for the time being, there will be no changes to our day-to-day operations or any personnel actions taken due to the threat of sequestration. We will continue to operate as normal. As the new deadline approaches, and until such time as Congress acts to permanently cancel these reductions, I will continue to keep you informed of all relevant developments.”
In light of the fiscal gorilla in the room, I am never disappointed in coming to this site for some levity from the many space cadets posting that NASA should do this or that. Generally employing Star Trek class capabilities, not to mention projects or programs requiring a significant portion of the World’s GDP. Good to see there are a couple of grounded people that aren’t missing the obvious.
We need to stop burying our heads in the sand. There is a huge budget deficit. It’s my guess NASA will take a hit. The question is whether they will make the hard choices or continue to squeeze everything.
There are those who say that with “strong leadership” we would have BEO human flight. Yet these same people insist on tax cuts for themselves. Bush I had a word for this: “voodoo economics”.
The US does not have an immediate deficit problem and will probably never have a problem with paying it’s bills even with the deficit getting larger (fiat money). We are running large deficits right now because the economy is running at well below capacity due to lack of demand for goods and services because the private sector is saving and not spending. If the government cuts spending and increases taxes (everyone check you FICA withholding) then that is just going to reduce demand further. If the economy recovers to the point where we are at full utilization, then excessive deficit spending would induce unwanted inflation. That would be the time to cut spending and raise taxes (counter-cyclical). The government should be spending on things that will increase productivity and growth, education, infrastructure, R&D, Science/Tech, etc.. and cutting taxes for the same.