A Mars Colony in Our Lifetimes?

[Coito ergo sum]

I don't know why I bother.

What is your problem?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I don't know why I bother.

What is your problem?

It's not mine.

[Coito ergo sum]

I don't know why I bother.

What is your problem?

It's not mine.

Good then. That's settled.

[Jason]

Okay, that's "stimulus" fraud?

And, waste. Yes.

Okay, I'm going to get another dictionary, this one's fucked.

What are you getting at. I used two words, not just one. Fraud and waste. http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/ ... aud-waste/

Are you really suggesting that an $850 billion government program contained no fraud or waste? http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/ ... aspx#page1

The actual, alleged, fraud (which occurs only in the second linked article) was committed by private companies. The rest of it can, at worst, be described as administrative oversight.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Don't bother.

[Coito ergo sum]

Okay, that's "stimulus" fraud?

And, waste. Yes.

Okay, I'm going to get another dictionary, this one's fucked.

What are you getting at. I used two words, not just one. Fraud and waste. http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2009/ ... aud-waste/

Are you really suggesting that an $850 billion government program contained no fraud or waste? http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/ ... aspx#page1

The actual, alleged, fraud (which occurs only in the second linked article) was committed by private companies. The rest of it can, at worst, be described as administrative oversight.

That's typically what the "fraud" in government programs is -- like in Medicare fraud -- it's a failure of the government to oversee the program properly, so companies rip off the government like it's going out of style. That's much of what I'm referring to. The other types of incidents would be things like Stimulus money being paid to nonexistent municipal entities, that kind of thing. Jobs saved or created in Congressional Districts that don't exist -- http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jobs-sav ... id=9097853

Are people really suggesting that the the Obama Administration managed to be the first administration in history to enact a hundreds of billion dollar program and none of it is wasted? No fraud? All properly used and managed? No payments to Congresspersons' pet projects?

I'm not saying it's all or even most that. But, the amount of energy spent trying to pretend that nothing wasteful happened is mind-boggling.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yeah, we need more Big Government!

[Coito ergo sum]

Go Big, or Go Home!

[Blind groper]

On fraud.
A space program is not going to change anything there. NASA was a shockingly wasteful agency. It permitted itself to be ripped off for billions of dollars by its subcontractors. How do you expect to change that culture?

[Horwood Beer-Master]

On fraud.
A space program is not going to change anything there. NASA was a shockingly wasteful agency. It permitted itself to be ripped off for billions of dollars by its subcontractors. How do you expect to change that culture?

Stop subcontracting?

[Svartalf]

and decent comptrollers overseeing the finances.

[JimC]

and decent comptrollers overseeing the finances.

A more important point than many imagine...

[Jason]

A Mars colony is beyond the economics of any one country.. probably all countries combined at the time being and for the foreseeable future. I'd expect such a serious undertaking in about 50 years.

[JimC]

A Mars colony is beyond the economics of any one country.. probably all countries combined at the time being and for the foreseeable future. I'd expect such a serious undertaking in about 50 years.

I shall watch for it with interest on my 110 birthday!

[Coito ergo sum]

On fraud.
A space program is not going to change anything there. NASA was a shockingly wasteful agency. It permitted itself to be ripped off for billions of dollars by its subcontractors. How do you expect to change that culture?

Was? Or is?

Yes, it probably spent more money than it had to. However, it also achieved fantastic results. So, take the good with the bad.

I would expect that to change by increasing oversight, and changing the structure so that it matters to the people making decisions and negotiating contracts. Increase accountability.