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seawaspAnd now, another little lecture...
There are people who are saying things like "eh, why do I need NOAA, I get the weather on my phone!"
Dude. Duuuuuuude. Dude! Where do you think your phone's getting the weather information? Do you think your phone, by itself, is reading the radar and humidity and pressure and calculating the weather?
No. That's NOAA and the National Weather Service. They're the people providing all the information that your national companies (The Weather Channel), local TV stations, and your phone USE to give you weather information. Teams of highly-trained people are performing prodigies of analysis to give everyone those little summaries that read "HIGH WIND WARNING" or "WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY". When tropical storms develop, crews of people pile into specially-instrumented aircraft and FLY INTO HURRICANES in order to gather the best and most immediate data on the most destructive storms on Earth. NOAA operates multiple extremely expensive satellites 24/7 to track even the smallest disturbances in the weather and predict when that little ripple may turn into a line of tornadoes.
The US Geological Survey, among other things, monitors earthquake and volcanic activity not just in the US but around the world, because it has a chance to impact us. They're constantly monitoring dozens of volcanoes HERE, in the USA, watching to hopefully be able to give a heads-up before the next Mount Saint Helens goes off (such as Mount Ranier, which if it blows could take Seattle with it).
NOAA also operates ocean monitoring for all sorts of things, ranging from sea ice to red tides. The National Marine Fisheries tracks the health and care of all forms of oceanic fishing, helping large and small fishing industries to coexist, even if there's often friction.
The National Parks are maintained and overseen by a relatively small but dedicated group of rangers and other government employees who watch over the literally MILLIONS of visitors every year -- ensuring the park is clean, its buildings are kept intact, that lost people are found, and so on and so forth. Others oversee the care of wildlife in the park and do their best to prevent conflicts between visitors and the animals that live there. The few billion dollars spent on the National Park system return somewhat more than TEN TIMES that much to the country in economic activity.
What none of these -- or a dozen other government services -- do is TURN A PROFIT on their actual work, because -- as I've discussed several times before -- what government does best is tasks that have DIFFUSE benefits, that help the country as a whole but are not suited for easy economic exploitation without damaging the very thing they're supposed to be watching over. That's why running the country as a business is asinine; that's not the POINT of a government. The US Postal Service is a SERVICE. It's meant to assist the country as a whole by providing a reliable, country-wide distribution system for messages and materials that need to be brought from one point to another, freeing individuals from having to personally make every trip and delivery themselves.
The Postal Service doesn't make money... but its existence allows millions of people to make money FOR the country. The National Park Service costs something like three billion dollars per year... but FIFTY billion dollars of economic activity comes from the parks' existence. It costs a few billion dollars to run NOAA and the National Weather Service -- but even ONE failed hurricane warning can cost the country more than that, or, alternatively, the dozen or so regular, consistent warnings of hurricanes or other terrible weather events save many, MANY billions of dollars every year.
The idiots who want to privatize all sectors of government literally do not understand what they're messing around with. The US Government's information and research institutions are one of the KEYSTONES of our prosperity, the necessary and irreplaceable foundations on which our security is based. We generally find it a shock when the power goes out for a couple of HOURS, and it's a major event when days go by without electricity. That would be a far, FAR more common occurrence without the nationwide monitoring of our weather. The government's behind-the-scenes work is what enables business to move forward without much disruption on land, sea, and air, and why we generally go about our business only slightly impeded by the natural world.
The government does a LOT of work -- and so many people don't even see it. Partly, of course, because they ARE doing the work. You'll see it most when they STOP.
There are people who are saying things like "eh, why do I need NOAA, I get the weather on my phone!"
Dude. Duuuuuuude. Dude! Where do you think your phone's getting the weather information? Do you think your phone, by itself, is reading the radar and humidity and pressure and calculating the weather?
No. That's NOAA and the National Weather Service. They're the people providing all the information that your national companies (The Weather Channel), local TV stations, and your phone USE to give you weather information. Teams of highly-trained people are performing prodigies of analysis to give everyone those little summaries that read "HIGH WIND WARNING" or "WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY". When tropical storms develop, crews of people pile into specially-instrumented aircraft and FLY INTO HURRICANES in order to gather the best and most immediate data on the most destructive storms on Earth. NOAA operates multiple extremely expensive satellites 24/7 to track even the smallest disturbances in the weather and predict when that little ripple may turn into a line of tornadoes.
The US Geological Survey, among other things, monitors earthquake and volcanic activity not just in the US but around the world, because it has a chance to impact us. They're constantly monitoring dozens of volcanoes HERE, in the USA, watching to hopefully be able to give a heads-up before the next Mount Saint Helens goes off (such as Mount Ranier, which if it blows could take Seattle with it).
NOAA also operates ocean monitoring for all sorts of things, ranging from sea ice to red tides. The National Marine Fisheries tracks the health and care of all forms of oceanic fishing, helping large and small fishing industries to coexist, even if there's often friction.
The National Parks are maintained and overseen by a relatively small but dedicated group of rangers and other government employees who watch over the literally MILLIONS of visitors every year -- ensuring the park is clean, its buildings are kept intact, that lost people are found, and so on and so forth. Others oversee the care of wildlife in the park and do their best to prevent conflicts between visitors and the animals that live there. The few billion dollars spent on the National Park system return somewhat more than TEN TIMES that much to the country in economic activity.
What none of these -- or a dozen other government services -- do is TURN A PROFIT on their actual work, because -- as I've discussed several times before -- what government does best is tasks that have DIFFUSE benefits, that help the country as a whole but are not suited for easy economic exploitation without damaging the very thing they're supposed to be watching over. That's why running the country as a business is asinine; that's not the POINT of a government. The US Postal Service is a SERVICE. It's meant to assist the country as a whole by providing a reliable, country-wide distribution system for messages and materials that need to be brought from one point to another, freeing individuals from having to personally make every trip and delivery themselves.
The Postal Service doesn't make money... but its existence allows millions of people to make money FOR the country. The National Park Service costs something like three billion dollars per year... but FIFTY billion dollars of economic activity comes from the parks' existence. It costs a few billion dollars to run NOAA and the National Weather Service -- but even ONE failed hurricane warning can cost the country more than that, or, alternatively, the dozen or so regular, consistent warnings of hurricanes or other terrible weather events save many, MANY billions of dollars every year.
The idiots who want to privatize all sectors of government literally do not understand what they're messing around with. The US Government's information and research institutions are one of the KEYSTONES of our prosperity, the necessary and irreplaceable foundations on which our security is based. We generally find it a shock when the power goes out for a couple of HOURS, and it's a major event when days go by without electricity. That would be a far, FAR more common occurrence without the nationwide monitoring of our weather. The government's behind-the-scenes work is what enables business to move forward without much disruption on land, sea, and air, and why we generally go about our business only slightly impeded by the natural world.
The government does a LOT of work -- and so many people don't even see it. Partly, of course, because they ARE doing the work. You'll see it most when they STOP.
