earle@mahendo.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Greg Earle) (05/08/88)
In article <[A.ISI.EDU]29-Apr-88.18:15:38.CERF> cerf@a.ISI.EDU writes: >The accounting issue comes up for two reasons: the MILNET operation folks >need to allocate costs among the users of MILNET and the general growth >of the Internet infrastructure can't be supported solely on government >subsidy in today's climate. I say add an extra MX missile or two to the military's budget request for each year, but instead funnel the money to AT&T et al. to pay for all the ARPANET & MILNET network links. That way we don't need chargeback, the government can subsidize it, and I'll feel just an epsilon better about where my tax dollars went. Without politicizing the argument, there is so much waste of government money in the military-industrial complex that I don't see how anyone in the government could complain about having to subsidize these networks, which are a sterling example of non-wasted monies buying such virtuousness :-) I mean, how many months of a 56 Kb line could be paid for with the price of an Air Force plane toilet seat? There. That was easy, now wasn't it? [ BTW: :-) ] -- Greg Earle earle@mahendo.JPL.NASA.GOV Indep. Sun consultant earle%mahendo@jpl-elroy.ARPA [aka:] (Gainfully Unemployed) earle%mahendo@elroy.JPL.NASA.GOV Lake View Terrace, CA ...!{cit-vax,ames}!elroy!jplgodo!mahendo!earle
karn@thumper.bellcore.com (Phil R. Karn) (05/10/88)
> ... Without politicizing the argument, there is so much > waste of government money in the military-industrial complex that I don't > see how anyone in the government could complain about having to subsidize > these networks... You don't understand how bureaucrats work. When faced with a budget crunch, they do NOT respond by trimming the most wasteful expenditures first. Rather, they immediately zero in on the most visible, efficient, essential and popular programs, hoping that the resulting public backlash will pressure the legislators into restoring their original budget. This is a standard ploy at all levels of government. Phil