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Category: sequestration
The government shutdown….
I haven’t written yet about this partly because, as a scientist, I’m so frustrated with the quite real effect on research, particularly at the NIH. But science has become truly global and, as a result, if its not done here in the States, it will get done elsewhere–although the results may then not accrue to advantage of the US.
I’m even more concerned about the debt ceiling issue. I’ve written about that issue before in the context of sequestration. I’ll simply reiterate that the brinksmanship is a very bad thing for the global economy.
Ultimately what I’m most worried about is the political dysfunction in governance at the federal level. This has manifested throughout the Obama Presidency in one form or another. Many others have written how the dysfunction we are seeing now is reminiscent of that seen before the American Civil War. That’s not a good precedent.
How bad is the sequester for NIH?
The Sequester, the budget and the current state of play for science funding…
The latest from ScienceInsider is here.
Short version: NSF is faring the best under the new regime, DOE the worst and NIH not much better.
The inside skinny on sequestration and science funding…
From ScienceInsider, here. The key point is that agencies will have a heterogenous response to the cuts depending on how their accounting is handled within the overall Federal budget–bottom-line: NIH seems to have greater flexibility than NSF.
Nature Magazine has an earlier analysis of the situation here.
For the true wonks among us, you’ll want to dive into the exhaustive OMB analysis here.
NSF to CMU: Subra Suresh
Big news out of the National Science Foundation, the story from the Chronicle is here. These are extremely challenging times for US science agencies with the imminent threat of sequestration. The problem is that, as President of Carnegie Mellon, with its institutional emphasis on science and technology, those challenges are going to likely follow him north to Pittsburgh. We wish him luck though…
Gaming out the fiscal cliff: Using the proceeds of the Bush taxcuts
FT’s James Politi has an interesting piece about how the fiscal cliff scenario is playing out in my home state of Virginia here.
But the most interesting piece of information in the article is the notion that by allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire at the beginning of January, Obama may generate all the revenues he needs to replace the dollars cut by sequestration. Is that Congressman Bobby Scott’s idea? Or is it the Administration’s game plan?
Richard Thaler’s advice for Congress and the President…
It’s in today’s NY Times business section here. With lots of references to Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling. All of this in the context of Obama’s recess appointments and what happens with Sequestration after the general election.