Originally Posted by slvoid
When I worked at a research lab that had govt. funding and shared it with some other labs that had nasa or military funding, the attitude was, "here's some money, if you don't spend it, you lose it". And if we spent more, we got more, if we spent less, we got less.
The horrifying reality is that every function in government operates under similar guidelines.
Just look at cycling advocacy. The only game in town is getting "funding" for facilities. Guess what cycling advocacy focuses on?
You see this kind of thinking to some extent in large corporations, but ultimately profit margins and competition keeps them honest. There is no such ultimate check in government; just increasing taxes, deficits and debt.