Don't End Funding of the International Space Station, Expand It

It is short sighted to end funding of the ISS and counter to the best interests of the people of Earth. It shows how the priorities of our nation's leaders is not in the best interests of the American people, or of the world in general.

Instead of abandoning this orbital station, it should be boosted into geosynchronous orbit and expanded on. It should be improved and additions made for the servicing and refueling of satellites and outbound spacecraft.

The article says that it costs NASA $3 to $4 billion each year, and so far represents a $87 billion investment by the taxpayers. Let us compare costs and benefits. It is costing the American people approximately $8 billion a year in subsidies to the oil industry. We could fund the ISS for 2 years for every 1 year we end oil industry subsidies. Along with that oil subsidies cost comes massive environmental degradation. With proper funding and utilization of the ISS our nation could end the oil industry stranglehold on our civilization. We could expand our jobs base with the expansion of the ISS and new missions opened up through the OWE.

What about tax breaks for billionaires? It has been said it will cost our nation's taxpayers $1.5 trillion to pay for these massive tax breaks. That is enough money to fund our share of the international cost for the next 187.5 years, or enough to expand our total share 17 times. In other words, to add to the ISS expansions 17 times over what we've already put into it.

Of course all of that will require many skilled hands on and off Earth. That directly translates into more jobs for our people. Better jobs that require the best educated population we can produce. We need to have national priority projects of such a magnitude and purpose. The problems solved for the human race are many and time is growing ever shorter. We can not kick this can down the road any longer.

Support the OWE! Tell all of your friends. Get them to understand the extreme importance of the OWE. Make them understand it is a life and death matter. Communicate with your congresspersons. Tell them you demand this paradigm shift in our entire civilization. We OWE it to ourselves, and to them who come after us. We can be looked upon by future people as the ones who saved humanity, or the ones who caused the fall. The choice is ours to make, but we better make it real soon.