We'd Like a Little Less, If You Don't Mind

Don't celebrate that stimulus plan so fast, says Jake Young at Pure Pedantry. The current draft of the plan in US Congress includes a provision for $10 billion to fund research, science facilities, and instruments -- which has Young blogging that "the infusion of such a large quantity of money into NIH and NSF over so short a period would be a disaster of Biblical proportions." Why so glum? Assuming this would be a one-time bolus and only cover the next couple of years, Young writes, "I am highly dubious of a spending bill like this one because I simply cannot conceive of how we will spend all that money" in a well-advised way.