Alan C. Posted December 16, 2014 Posted December 16, 2014 NASA’s $349 million monument to its drift In June, NASA finished work on a huge construction project here in Mississippi: a $349 million laboratory tower, designed to test a new rocket engine in a chamber that mimicked the vacuum of space.Then, NASA did something odd.As soon as the work was done, it shut the tower down. The project was officially “mothballed” — closed up and left empty — without ever being used.“You lock the door, so nobody gets in and hurts themselves,” said Daniel Dumbacher, a former NASA official who oversaw the project.The reason for the shutdown: The new tower — called the A-3 test stand — was useless. Just as expected. The rocket program it was designed for had been canceled in 2010.But, at first, cautious NASA bureaucrats didn’t want to stop the construction on their own authority. And then Congress — at the urging of a senator from Mississippi — swooped in and ordered the agency to finish the tower, no matter what.The result was that NASA spent four more years building something it didn’t need. Now, the agency will spend about $700,000 a year to maintain it in disuse.
Matthew Ed Moran Posted December 16, 2014 Posted December 16, 2014 Shut up, it's good for the economy. Governments are most effective when they are lavishly throwing around money, because this increases aggregate demand. Increasing aggregate demand is like a mighty superhero which bashes deflationary depravity with a mjolnir hammer. If governments were stingy during times like these, we'd be poor forever and our debt burden would increase endlessly, leaving us all in a bottomless pit of debt-slave quasi-neo-serfdom.
Dylan Lawrence Moore Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 I guess that's $349 million that didn't go toward building another nuclear missile?
MrCapitalism Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 Could perhaps be being used for black projects.
dsayers Posted December 17, 2014 Posted December 17, 2014 I guess that's $349 million that didn't go toward building another nuclear missile? When you have the ability to wish currency out of thin air, no two expenditures are mutually exclusive. 1
iHuman Posted December 21, 2014 Posted December 21, 2014 Just like how President Obama wastes tens of millions a pop on vacations practically every few weeks....It seems like he has spent far more time on vcation than even attempting to look like he is working. and yet many still wonder why the national debit is increasing at an ever accelerating pace.....
TheSchoolofAthens Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 My god...not surprised though. Another wonderfully stupid government story though :/ 1
Crallask Posted January 9, 2015 Posted January 9, 2015 Just like how President Obama wastes tens of millions a pop on vacations practically every few weeks.... It seems like he has spent far more time on vcation than even attempting to look like he is working. and yet many still wonder why the national debit is increasing at an ever accelerating pace..... TBH that might be for the best. I hope the next president just goes on vacation for his entire term. Better absent than doing harm. 1
LoneWolf Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 Maybe they will rent it out for birthday parties.
iHuman Posted January 25, 2015 Posted January 25, 2015 TBH that might be for the best. I hope the next president just goes on vacation for his entire term. Better absent than doing harm. Possibly, but the debit it helps increase is doing far more harm.
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