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Did Obama Just Propose Another $70 Billion in Annual Spending?

Speaking at the National Academy of Sciences this morning, President Obama declared, "I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and development."

The AP reports:

He set forth a wish list for the future including "learning software as effective as a personal tutor; prosthetics so advanced that you could play the piano again; an expansion of the frontiers of human knowledge about ourselves and world the around us.

Like most of Obama's domestic proposals, the underlying idea is that private enterprise isn't allocating resources efficiently enough, and that a more active role for the federal government is required to make sure that society's wealth is channeled toward worthy goals. Sure, the way Obama presents it, who could be against all of these wonderful scientific breakthroughs? The problem is that this idea of setting a target for how much our nation will allocate  toward a sector of the economy and goals for what that money will yield was a basic tenet of all of the failed centrally planned economies of the 20th Century.

It's also worth putting Obama's numbers in context. In 2007, the most recent year for which I was able to find data, Plunkett Research pegged R&D spending in the U.S. at $360 billion, which was more than any other nation in the world. As a percentage of GDP, the U.S. was at 2.6 percent, second in the world only to Japan. Obama suggested increasing this number to more than 3 percent. So let's just say we make it 3.1 percent. Given the most recent GDP was $14.2 trillion, we're looking at a gap of about $70 billion a year that Obama evidently wants government to make up for. 

Of course, Obama has a familiar retort:

"At such a difficult moment, there are those who say we cannot afford to invest in science. That support for research is somehow a luxury at a moment defined by necessities. I fundamentally disagree," Obama said.

"Science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than it has ever been," he said.

And so Obama leads us further down his primrose path.

Comments

Pingback| 4.27.09 @ 1:20PM

Did Obama Just Propose Another $70 Billion in Annual Spending? | But As For Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…at the National Academy of Sciences this morning, President Obama declared, “I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than 3 percent of our GDP to research and… → Read full article… Did Obama Just Propose Another $70 Billion in Annual Spending? Tags: Academy Of Sciences, Gdp, National Academy Of Sciences Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. Name (required) Mail (will…

Pingback| 4.27.09 @ 2:27PM

The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Did Obama Just Propose … : PlanetTalk.net - Le links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…allocating resources efficiently enough, and that a more active role for the federal government is required to make sure that society’s wealth … More:  The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Did Obama Just Propose … Tags: annual-spending, april-2009, facebook, manbirdpig, national, obama, obama-just, philip-klein, security Comments Tell us what you're thinking... and oh, if you want a…

Pingback| 4.27.09 @ 4:51PM

Obama President Swine Government | World News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…the underlying idea is that private enterprise isn't allocating resources efficiently enough, and that a more active role for the federal government is required to make sure that society's wealth [...] Obama On Swine Flu: Discusses Government Response At National ... With nations across the globe trying to contain an outbreak of deadly swine flu, President Obama addressed the National Academy of…

Ellis Wyatt| 4.27.09 @ 4:59PM

For someone so concerned about science as Obama says he is, I find it interesting he can choose to ignore all the science that disputes the man made climate change hypothesis and all the economic science that disputes the failed economic theories he proposes. I guess we must return science to its rightful place unless it disagrees with our political viewpoints.

Aaron| 4.27.09 @ 8:17PM

Spend all you want, we'll print more!

Pingback| 4.28.09 @ 9:29AM

Did Obama Just Propose Another $70 Billion in Annual Spending? - I Was Taken! links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

Did Obama Just Propose Another $70 Billion in Annual Spending? - I Was Taken!       Home     Forum     New posts     Register

Gene| 4.28.09 @ 1:23PM

what this means is, that somtime in the future, based on "government science"the voters in america will not know what is best for them , so they will vote for you, how about that for control.

Trackback| 4.28.09 @ 8:05PM

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Pingback| 5.4.09 @ 3:39AM

Obama President Obama39s Swine | World News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…the underlying idea is that private enterprise isn't allocating resources efficiently enough, and that a more active role for the federal government is required to make sure that society's wealth [...] Obama On Swine Flu: Discusses Government Response At National ... With nations across the globe trying to contain an outbreak of deadly swine flu, President Obama addressed the National Academy of…

Pingback| 5.4.09 @ 6:02AM

Obama President Swine Bush | World News links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…the underlying idea is that private enterprise isn't allocating resources efficiently enough, and that a more active role for the federal government is required to make sure that society's wealth [...] Obama On Swine Flu: Discusses Government Response At National ... With nations across the globe trying to contain an outbreak of deadly swine flu, President Obama addressed the National Academy of…

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