Campaign Blog: News & Updates

A few lengthier reads from the past week or so here.

» TNR: Who Lincoln Was (Sean Wilentz) ... Just over 25,000 words to basically conclude that Abraham was much less an American saint and far more an American politician. There are points where the review seems excessive in scope, but it's still an entertaining read. The article is intended to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth and occupies about half of the current issue of TNR. You get the impression they really wanted to emphasize the subject?

» Atlantic: The Elusive Green Economy (Joshua Green) ... standard-issue Joshua Green quality writing on how government policy affects the development of alternative energy sources in America.

» NYT Magazine: G.M., Detroit and the Fall of the Black Middle Class (Jonathan Mahler) ... for all of the macro-level analysis on the "death of Detroit", this stands as a good counter by focusing primarily on the extended Powell family's situation vis-a-vis the auto industry. Also a great read for the emphasis on the faith of Marvin Powell in the face of the industry's downturn.

» NYT: NASA's Black Hole Budgets (Alan Stern)

A provocative take by Stern. Ultimately, the call is for "reform" ... whatever that's supposed to mean. I suppose if the costs of NASA projects were run more responsibly, there may not be a horse to beat on this. But here's the nub of where and why I differ from Stern's conclusion ...

Endemic project cost increases at NASA begin when scientists and engineers (and sometimes Congress) burden missions with features beyond what is affordable in the stated budget. The problem continues with managers and contractors who accept or encourage such assignments, expecting to eventually be bailed out. It is worsened by managers who disguise the size of cost increases that missions incur. Finally, it culminates with scientists who won't cut their costs and members of Congress who accept steep increases to protect local jobs.

The result? The costs of badly run NASA projects are paid for with cutbacks or delays in NASA projects that didn't go over budget. Hence the guilty are rewarded and the innocent are punished.

That's not really accurate. The costs are paid for by everyone. The projects without cost overruns just get delayed funding while the process churns along. But they're likelier to get funding than not. The projects with overruns suffer nothing. Especially if the bucks translate to more pork to brag about by the elected class.

All the while, the only tangible benefit that anyone can objectively point to for NASA's purpose is to serve as a government jobs program for engineers.