It's still not clear to me how that would work. Taxes are paid by individuals and businesses directly to the federal government. It's not like it's paid to the state and then the state pays the feds.
Unless you don't have empathy towards them. Look at Elon cheerfully cutting tens of thousands jobs and killing people by dismantling USAID crying about how people weren't buying his car in protest.
If you take the Trump/MAGA/GOP threat to US Constitutional democracy seriously—and I really think you should—then things getting worse faster, before Trump has consolidated authoritarian power, is beneficial, not detrimental.
If Democrats don't fight now, they might never have another real chance.
So in that sense what research is directly useful is very difficult to know in advance and even harder to argue for in a way that will sway the general public. A study that paved the way for ozempic could easily have been mocked as a waste of government money when it was first funded.
I'm largely okay with it, but tempered with the notion that we're really bad at predicting what will be useful so research into fundamental science is very important. For a recent example, ozempic and similar drugs are a direct result of studying lizard venom.
I think we need to ask what is more damaging to people, the cost of living going up and the devaluation of savings or people losing their livelihoods. I know I prefered the inflationary environment under Biden where I could get a job offer in my sleep than my current long term unemployment.
At the same time, the bulk of US spending on science goes to subjects that directly impact humans in some manner. Medical science gets the largest cut, followed by engineering. My experience writing grants has always been that you need to argue how your research will help the American public.
Not an ounce of skepticism to be found, someone needs to ask the question why would they do layoffs during this shutdown when it hasn't been needed for others, including the month long shutdown in Trump's first term.
From an American perspective, 2002 was a horrible year. We were afraid of our own shadow because of 9/11 and our government was increasingly authoritarian. The only reason to be nostalgic for then is if you were a literal child with no responsibilities.
BREAKING: Governor Pritzker calls for the removal of Donald Trump as President by invoking the 25th amendment. EVERY governor should stand behind the Illinois governor. Governor Pritzker also cited health concerns for the president. He is clearly not well.
