"Normally I don't like to think short-term, but if we hope to get out of this recession/depression, then we need to. As for my own country, I'd gladly give up the space program (including the ISS) for however long it takes to reach non-rec/depression status. Spending lots of money on things which have no immediate benefit makes little sense in a rec/depression."

Capital idea. So I guess you'd be talking about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan then--five years of expenses that burn through more money in a couple of weeks than the ISS and the space program go through in a year.

Cutting funding for science while continuing to pour money into the sand in Iraq is like saving money by cutting out cable TV while still buying a Ferrari every month.