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NIH slashes overhead payments for research

science.org

11–20 of 78 posts

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#11
post #7

[flagged]

Exactly. Research is overrated, we have progressed enough. The Chinese can do the rest. Everyone should join the trades.

Degrees are somewhat overrated. Dating sites however suggest we've moved past peak tradie (plumber's bum wasn't a good look) and teacher is the new "it" partner. I'm still betting on a plumber. Handy in the apocalypse.

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#12
post #10
post #4

The reputational damage to US scientific prestige is incalculable. And all for amounts that are tiny slivers of the federal budget for research that benefits potentially everyone.

>tiny slivers We have a saying in Japan that goes: "Even dust piled up will make a mountain." Considering the monies concerned here are also tax dollars , I am wholly unsympathetic to the actual monetary sums. They could be 1 cent and my feelings on this matter wouldn't change: Audit every single line item and slash anything wasteful. Collateral damage is unavoidable, and more importantly I don't care about collatera…

Ah yes, “collateral damage”.

What a wonderful phrase that came into prominence to euphemise the killing of hundreds of thousands to millions of innocent Afghans and Iraqis.

I believe your use of it here is equally appropriate considering what you’re suggesting.

I’m guessing none of you our your loved ones will be affected by that “collateral damage”.

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#14
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>tiny slivers We have a saying in Japan that goes: "Even dust piled up will make a mountain." Considering the monies concerned here are also tax dollars , I am wholly unsympathetic to the actual monetary sums. They could be 1 cent and my feelings on this matter wouldn't change: Audit every single line item and slash anything wasteful. Collateral damage is unavoidable, and more importantly I don't care about collatera…

Ah yes, “collateral damage”. What a wonderful phrase that came into prominence to euphemise the killing of hundreds of thousands to millions of innocent Afghans and Iraqis. I believe your use of it here is equally appropriate considering what you’re suggesting. I’m guessing none of you our your loved ones will be affected by that “collateral damage”.

Trump's tariffs if (when) enacted will adversely affect our family business, as will some of his other policies which I won't get into because of confidentiality.

I still voted for him.

Why? Because his policies are things the people have demanded for a very long time and they are things we need to do sooner or later for the better future of our country.

Even Musk admitted this will be painful in the short and possibly even mid term, but in the long term we will all be better off for it.

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#15
post #10
post #4

The reputational damage to US scientific prestige is incalculable. And all for amounts that are tiny slivers of the federal budget for research that benefits potentially everyone.

>tiny slivers We have a saying in Japan that goes: "Even dust piled up will make a mountain." Considering the monies concerned here are also tax dollars , I am wholly unsympathetic to the actual monetary sums. They could be 1 cent and my feelings on this matter wouldn't change: Audit every single line item and slash anything wasteful. Collateral damage is unavoidable, and more importantly I don't care about collatera…

The key issue is we're not getting audits, we're only getting indiscriminate cuts .

I understand the concerns around using funds effectively, and I agree there's a lot of waste out there, but some of that is just required in the research space to learn. If we knew what to fund to do something, it's no longer research, it's engineering.

Overhaul the grant system to ensure that there's additional scrutiny in getting funding, focus on outcomes we want, audit the past research, but burning it all down doesn't help and just wastes what's currently in flight and we'll have to rebuild eventually, duplicating effort and thus wasting money.

I understand the emotional reaction, but it would do everyone a lot of good to take a step back, take a deep breath, and approach things in a measured and focused way.

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#16
This is 0.25% of the national deficit by cutting indirect expenses from 30%+ to 15%.

When the country is $1,830,000,000,000 further in debt every year, universities will simply have to figure it out.

I suggest cutting their bloated administrations, to free up tuition and endowment funds for their actual purpose.

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#18
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>tiny slivers We have a saying in Japan that goes: "Even dust piled up will make a mountain." Considering the monies concerned here are also tax dollars , I am wholly unsympathetic to the actual monetary sums. They could be 1 cent and my feelings on this matter wouldn't change: Audit every single line item and slash anything wasteful. Collateral damage is unavoidable, and more importantly I don't care about collatera…

The key issue is we're not getting audits, we're only getting indiscriminate cuts . I understand the concerns around using funds effectively, and I agree there's a lot of waste out there, but some of that is just required in the research space to learn. If we knew what to fund to do something, it's no longer research, it's engineering. Overhaul the grant system to ensure that there's additional scrutiny in getting fu…

They’re not “burning it all down”, they’re cutting indirect expenses from 30%+ to 15% — and administrators who were grifting are whining because their slush funds got cut.

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#19

This is 0.25% of the national deficit by cutting indirect expenses from 30%+ to 15%. When the country is $1,830,000,000,000 further in debt every year, universities will simply have to figure it out. I suggest cutting their bloated administrations, to free up tuition and endowment funds for their actual purpose.

Schools are going to follow the same playbook they've been following since 2008 as state and federal funding has dried up.

They'll lean on international students first like they have for decades, but those numbers are going to be down. They'll follow that by leaning on undergrads, but those numbers are shrinking too because of cultural and demographic shifts. Then they'll cut graduate funding (again) to try and get more blood from the stone. Then they'll try cutting the "extraneous" departments that don't bring in money or grants (read: everything except engineering, medicine, law, and football) again. Then they'll cut the departments that do bring in money. Then they'll do the work to shoulder the costs directly.

If you want reform, cutting funding doesn't work. It hollows out the entire institution before it even starts addressing the administrative issues. Reform needs to come from a different direction.

Re: NIH slashes overhead payments for research

#20
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, “collateral damage”. What a wonderful phrase that came into prominence to euphemise the killing of hundreds of thousands to millions of innocent Afghans and Iraqis. I believe your use of it here is equally appropriate considering what you’re suggesting. I’m guessing none of you our your loved ones will be affected by that “collateral damage”.

Trump's tariffs if (when) enacted will adversely affect our family business, as will some of his other policies which I won't get into because of confidentiality. I still voted for him. Why? Because his policies are things the people have demanded for a very long time and they are things we need to do sooner or later for the better future of our country. Even Musk admitted this will be painful in the short and possib…

I demanded he be in jail but somehow you voted for a convicted felon over a prosecutor.
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