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Unread 16-01-2013, 13:27
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Re: White House Petition for FIRST Funding

Quote:
Originally Posted by buchanan View Post
Speaking as an adult, I think one of the best things we can do for the next generation is stop borrowing money that they, not we, will have to pay back.

This might be a great thing were there money in hand to pay for it, but there's not. As with any new spending, every marginal dollar would be borrowed.

If engineers cannot appreciate that there's no free lunch, who can?

Sorry. The thought is worthy, but the idea is ultimately bad. No support here.
I hope you're not trying to softball in a political argument here. Either indirectly through government contracts or right from federal agencies, FIRST thrives because it is already backed by the government at its center. BAE, BAH, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Harris, General Dynamics, Halliburton, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Honeywell, L3 Communications, MIT, Motorola, Verizon, Raytheon, Siemens, Rockwell Collins, Texas Instruments, Northrop Grumman, Rolls Royce, Mitsubishi, and more are all on two lists: the top 100 defense contractors in the United States, whose contracts total in the range of 6 to 7 million USD per day, and the top 100 FIRST contributors, who are title sponsors of events, provide grants and mentors to teams, and are major integral sponsors to some of the powerhouse teams. FIRST would not exist at all without some of these, and would not be the power it is now if not for defense contract money that eventually trickles down a tiny bit to teams. The third largest industry in the United States also employs a majority of FRC mentors, regional committee members, and global board members, and also takes a major part in the second largest portion of our federal budget->deficit->debt. It's a slippery slope I'm not going to comment on, so I would avoid it here.

I will not avoid saying that I look forward to the inevitable, creative rejection letter that will be received if this petition earns enough signatures to merit a response, like most other wh.gov petitions have earned. /s
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