What Gingrich might have said to Romney

That statement by Romney in the GOP debates leading up to the 2012 election really got me pissed.

Romney claimed that a moonbase would cost a trillion bucks, but that was wrong.  It was costed out by Marshall for about 1/10th that amount, and could have fit into the existing budget.  Gingrich could have said that and more.

People have got the idea that NASA is wasting money, or that NASA spends a lot more more than it actually does.  In this respect, we are being penny wise and pound foolish.  The pound that is being saved is the muscle, and the gain in thrift is penny wise.  How?  State of the art science and technology will add heft and muscle to the US economy whereas cutting it only cuts muscle and sinew.  The cuts themselves don't add up to much because in terms of the percentage of the NASA budget, NASA just doesn't get that much money.  We "save" a little, but lose a lot.

Thanks to this, instead of having Mars colonies by now, we can't put a man into orbit.

Double NASA's budget, and Gingrich might have won Florida if he had promised that.

Gingrich could have said that we could double NASA's budget and only then spend a trillion over 30 years.  Let the budget be doubled, and then we will see what NASA can do.  If it takes 30 years to put a colony on Mars, count me one surprised dude.