This election is going to be a contest between do less with less, and do more with more. And the place of
Space research is a good example. Bush proposes empty promises which he can't pay for. Democrats like Udall are fighting for real research that has real returns.
The real problem is that after 20 years, the Republican wealth pump is pushing on a string. It relied on pumping up stock values, and telling people that the stock market was how well off they were.
But push too much money into any sector of the economy, and one is pushing on a string. More money won't make more investment chances, if all the money to be spent by consumers is spoken for - it will merely shift spending around. More billionaires will not create more products, merely more competition to be the sole supplier of a natural monopoly. This is seen by the low risk spreads in the junk bond market and the high P/E's in the equities market.
The solution is to change the allocation of money - put more money were there is insufficient liquidity. The dearth of hiring and small business creation should be evidence enough that there is insufficient labor demand, and therefore insufficient liqudity at this level. The two together indicate that Americans are, pollyanna, borrowing in hopes that everything will turn out well.
These are bad bets to make, and yet we are making them. The Republicans have set up a failure factory, and hope that when the meltdown comes, they will be able to dictate terms of the new order. It is unlikely that they will, because preaching permenant austerity to those who had more, once, will produce, not acqueisence, but civil turmoil.