Yesterday we (the U.S.) spent $79 million dollars to crash a rocket into the moon.  We did this to determine whether or not there is water/ice below the moon’s surface.  The only real reason we need to know this is for future colonization of the moon, which is another very expensive and very unnecessary undertaking.

Luckily the U.S. economy is in fantastic shape and we had no problem scratching a $79 million check for something so frivolous.  Thankfully there is not a more pressing need for this money.

Oh wait…

Here are 10 different things that we COULD HAVE DONE with that $79 million instead*:

1)  Donate $1 million each to 79 charities working on finding cures for deadly diseases.
2)  Send 1,880,952 underprivileged kids to Disneyland for a day.
3)  Give $1000 bonuses to 79,000 soldiers.
4)  Pay 1,548 teachers for a year.
5)  Buy 7,900,000 bed nets and send them to areas of the world where they could help reduce the spread of malaria by mosquitoes, which kills one million people per year.
6)  Provide 15,800,000 meals for the homeless.
7)  Pay 2,135 firemen for a year.
8)  Build 929 homes through Habitat for Humanity.
9)  Provide a year of medicine to 5,266 people suffering from AIDS.
10)  Pay 1,975 cops for a year.

These are all things that could be done right here on this planet, right now for the people who live here.  I would have much rather seen any one of these things happen before pissing it away the way we did.

*  I didn’t do extensive research, these numbers just came from quick searches on the web for the costs of various things.  It’s not exact, but you get the idea.