In short, some dude took the $450 billion figure from the 90-Day Report back in 1989. He adjusted it for inflation, failed to adjust it for scientific advancements, added $200 billion, and stated the $1 trillion figure as fact. Shortly thereafter, other reporters picked up the figure and failed to question the figure's authenticity. Since then, the $1 trillion figure has been repeated so much that everyone, including politicians, believe it to be fact.
My favorite quote from the article:
"At the time of the Bush speech NASA released a confusing budget chart that indicated how much money the agency would spend on various projects over the next 20 years. If one carefully separated out the exploration part of the chart from the rest, it was possible to determine that NASA planned to spend approximately $170 billion on various aspects of space exploration over this period, including robotic probes to Mars and Jupiter."
$170 billion spread out over two decades. Read my previous blog entry on this subject for a little background: The New NASA Program.
The Cake: Purchase 1 Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe White cake mix (.89 cents in Texas) nd prepare as directed on the package. You will need one baking pan that is 11 X 13 or two eight or nine inch round pans or a pan that makes 12 muffins to make cupcakes. If you decide to make cupcakes you will need to purchase paper cupcake liners (they cost about .50 cents in Texas). To prepare the cake you will need three eggs and 1/3 cup of plain vegetable oil and some water. If you decide to use pans to bake the cake you might want to buy some "Baker's Secret" non-stick baking pan spray grease (costs $1.89 in Texas) that contains the grease and flour for the pan all in one and this is much less messy than greasing and flouring the baking pan. It is located near the regular oil and other non-stick sprays in the grocery store. You do not need to spray the cupcake papers, just use them plain from the package they are great. After the cake is done baking, turn it out of the pan onto a small metal rack to cool. If you used a 11 X 13 inch pan you can leave the cake in the pan to cool :~) cupcakes need to be set out to cool. If you do not have a metal rack, you can improvise-get a clean bath towel, fold it double and place it on a table, on top of that place a piece of paper towel-turn the cake out onto the paper towel to cool. When it is completely cooled, gently brush the layers to get rid of any crumbs that will mess up the frosting. Put the cake on a serving dish to frost. If you have made a layer cake, put frosting on the bottom layer (after it is on the dish) and frost it within ½ inch of the edge of the cake. Put the second layer on top of the first, frost the sides of the cake and you are done! The Frosting: Purchase 1 tub of ready-made white frosting from the cake-mix area of the grocery store (costs about $1.50 in Texas). There are many brands of frosting, and in my privately conducted taste tests, they all taste exactly alike, so get the least expensive one. After the cake has cooled completely, spread the frosting on the cake. After you make your first cake you will never purchase another store bought cake, baking your own is easy and quick and in Texas costs about $2.50 compare that to the $10 or more for a store bought cake, plus you get exactly the cake you want to eat. I will send along a home-made frosting recipe later for you to use when you feel confident in baking your own cake.