Successful Landing on Mars!

[Don]

Whoa. So I just discovered that the Summer Olympics of 2012 cost $14.5 billion to put on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Su...pics#Financing

That's 6 times the cost of sending that rover to Mars!

I think we can all agree that while some people feel the Olympics are a waste of money, other people definitely do not. Therefore we have the Olympics.

It's the same way with Mars: Some people don't want to waste money on it, but plenty of Americans think it's important, and would gladly pay $20 or $50 more with their annual tax return to fund it.

Surely that's fair? There are plenty of things that my tax money gets spent on that I think are a waste, but someone else thinks is very, very important. And this is just 1/6th the price of the Olympics.

Actually, the funding of the Summer Olympics are paid for with sponsor donors and private money. The US Olympic Committee raises private funds for the Olympics. So, that really isn't an apples to apples comparison. If the Olympics is a waste of money, then it is not US tax money that is being wasted.

Here is an article on how the US Olympic Athletes are funded: http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-e...0.9387018.html