Don't Cry for Government Space: The Shuttle Program was a Giant Failure

As the final shuttle flight unfolds over the next few hours or, given the weather, the next few days, politicians, pundits, and former astronauts will laud the success of the shuttle program. 

It is all hogwash.

As noted in a Boston Globe editorial, by any metric more tangible than the warm and fuzzies, the space shuttle has been a pretty typical government program...with a body count:

For all the heartfelt sentiment accompanying the end of the program, the sad reality is the space shuttle’s demise was long overdue. Its goal of providing inexpensive, fast, and reliable access to space for government and commercial cargoes never materialized. Shuttle maintenance and refurbishment were too expensive, the delays between flights too long, and the simplicity of a single reusable spacecraft was belied by the need for a new external fuel tank for each flight. The total cost of the program, estimated at about $200 billion, worked out to well over $1 billion per mission. The value of scientific research from experiments on the flight was debatable. And then, of course, there were the tragedies of Challenger and Columbia.

Read more at Boston.com...

Pick an Agency, Any Agency: SSA

As fiscal conservatives continue to seek avenues through which to derail the federal gravy train, it helps from time to time to take a look at the mind-numbingly long list of federal departments and agencies that are on board. Of course, this list is hardly exhaustive – just one that is publicly available – but it can certainly give us some concrete ideas on how and where to cut the spending.

Today: The Social Security Administration (SSA) 

About: “The Social Security Act was signed by FDR on 8/14/35. Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month. Regular ongoing monthly benefits started in January 1940. ”
FY 2010 Budget: $695 billion in benefits + $11.6 billion in administrative costs (Source)

That's right – Social Security. The gift that keeps on giving, if you consider higher taxation, retirement ages, and future entitlements to be a gift. Social Security is the elephant in the room in American politics: everyone knows it's an issue, but no one is willing to cut. Don't you care about the poor and the elderly? We can't just kick them out into the street! Anyone who proposes the end of Social Security must be a heartless monster!

Pick an Agency, Any Agency: GIPSA

As fiscal conservatives continue to seek avenues through which to derail the federal gravy train, it helps from time to time to take a look at the mind-numbingly long list of federal departments and agencies that are on board. Of course, this list is hardly exhaustive – just one that is publicly available – but it can certainly give us some concrete ideas on how and where to cut the spending.

Today: Grain Inspection, Packers, and Stockyards Administration

About: “The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) facilitates the marketing of livestock, poultry, meat, cereals, oilseeds, and related agricultural products, and promotes fair and competitive trading practices for the overall benefit of consumers and American agriculture. GIPSA is part of USDA's Marketing and Regulatory Programs, which are working to ensure a productive and competitive global marketplace for U.S. agricultural products.”
FY 2010 Budget: $84 million (Source)

You read that correctly. The USDA essentially has a marketing department called GIPSA, established in 1994. While they speak of a “competitive global marketplace,” however, they don't deal with foreign marketing or exports; no, for that, you'd have to go down a couple floors to the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS). But that's another article for another day. If GIPSA is in the business of marketing, but there's a separate agency to improve American agriculture in foreign markets, then what does that leave GIPSA tasked with?

Pick an Agency, Any Agency: BTS

As fiscal conservatives continue to seek avenues through which to derail the federal gravy train, it helps from time to time to take a look at the mind-numbingly long list of federal departments and agencies that are on board. Of course, this list is hardly exhaustive – just one that is publicly available – but it can certainly give us some concrete ideas on how and where to cut the spending.

Today: The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS)

About: “The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) was established by the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. As the newest operating administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the BTS mission is to compile, analyze, and make accessible information about the nation’s transportation systems; collect information on intermodal transportation and other areas as needed; enhance the quality and effectiveness of the Department’s programs through research and the development of guidelines; promote improvements in data acquisition and use.”

FY 2010 Budget: $28 million (Source)