Billionaires... First They Came For The Economy

First the oligarchs came for our economy, and we said nothing.

Then they came for our government, and again, we said nothing.

Now, they’ve come for science, and we’re not saying a word.

Thanks to Republican-backed austerity measures, our nation’s scientific infrastructure has been hit with devastating budget cuts.

All across America, research labs are shutting their doors, scientists are joining unemployment lines, and potentially life-saving drug trials and research projects are being put on hiatus.

But have no fear, because the billionaire oligarchs are here.

As William Broad points out in The New York Times, “Yet from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, science philanthropy is hot, as many of the richest Americans seek to reinvent themselves as patrons of social progress through science research.”

Broad goes on to write that, “The result is a new calculus of influence and priorities that the scientific community views with a mix of gratitude and trepidation.”

And as Steven Edwards, a policy analyst with the American Association for the Advancement of Science said, “For better or worse, the practice of science in the 21st century is becoming shaped less by national priorities or by peer-review groups and more by the particular preferences of individuals with huge amounts of money.”

From disease research and underwater exploration, to space travel and climate change denial, billionaires are funding just about all aspects of science – or pseudoscience – in America today.

As a result, basic science research, which is most often responsible for huge scientific breakthroughs, is suffering, because it’s not in the personal interests of the billionaires.

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