Perspective
Yeah, that Nasa comparison sure drives the point home. We'd all like to see that 3 year/ 300 billion spent on something else. For example we could fund almost another 2 years of actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Dont forget to subract from your "300" the average spending on benefits at the natural rate of unemployment. In '05 it was 33 billion but that's not exactly fair because we were in the tail end of a mild recession- 4 years after the Bush tax cuts.